Newark Women

Alphabetical List of Posts

  • Ruth B. Demerast Breder Porter

    1902-1971 In 1927, listed by Sunday Call as “the only woman director of a scientific station in the United States”. She was the director of the Wyanokie Zoological Station in Haskell. As of 1930, she was still listed as “of Newark” but was working at the New York Aquarium. She traveled internationally with her scientific…

  • Ruth Crumpton Dargan

    1921-2010 Became a Newark policewoman in 1949. First Newark woman detective chosen for the Homicide Squad and sent to Quantico for advanced criminal investigation. She was the only woman chosen to initiate the Sex Crimes Unit during her tenure. Served as bodyguard for Eleanor Roosevelt, Coretta Scott King, and Carol Graves. Recording secretary of Batons…

  • Ruth Greenberg Shiminsky

    1918-1971 Ran for NJ Governor on the Socialist Workers Party in 1961 (living 202 Clinton Pl Newark), 1965 (2 Aldine St, Newark). In 1965, she was the only woman candidate for governor. She opposed the Vietnam War, supported Civilian Review Boards, and supported a higher minimum wage and a shorter work week. She also supported…

  • Ruth McClain Rambo

    1940- Ruth Rambo, known at the time as Ruth McClain, is a graduate of Fisk University. In the 1960s she took a job with the Urban League and became one of it’s first female directors. She was associate exec director and in 1975 sued the Essex Co. Urban League saying she was denied the Exec.…

  • Sally (Sara) E. Cooke Young

    1905-1967 Born and raised in Newark. 1924 graduate of Central High. Lived at 169 Norfolk St when she graduated Central. Her father Ambrose was listed on the census as a book author. She was the Daily News secretary at Central High. In 1941, she was on the advisory committee for Hughe Allison’s Midnight Over Newark.…

  • Sally Carroll

    1922-2019 One of the first Black policewomen along with Rhoda Daniels and Eleanor M. Stokes . Actively involved with the Newark branch of the NAACP for 40+ years, served as President. Served on National Board of Directors of the NAACP. Photo from Newark Public Library Bibliography “Sally Carroll“, Rise Up Newark Newark Public Library digital…

  • Sandra King

    1948- Born in Newark. Weequahic Class of 1965. Graduated from Rutgers Newark. Board of Newark Library, Branch Brook Park, and NJ Institute for Social Justice. Host of Emmy Award Winning Due Process which has won two dozen region Emmys. Recipient of Neiman Fellowship at Harvard 1998. Award-winning producer and anchor of news, documentaries, and public…

  • Sandra West

    1947-2019 1964 Weequahic graduate. Editor of the Black Organization for Students newsletter at Rutgers and first African American female editor of Rutgers Observer. Worked as a journalist for Information published by the City of Newark, as well as in multiple other journalism positions and freelance for publications like Metro-Newark and Essence. In 2003, she published…

  • Sara Jane Ash

    1886-1973 One of only two woman engineers at NJ Bell Telephone Company as of 1937. Started in 1902. Born in Paterson and worked at Bell in Paterson and other places until 1929 when she was appointed Assistant Engineer of the Traffic Department at Newark Bell. According to her obit was an engineer for 47 years,…

  • Sarah Bedell Ball

    1879-1962 Head of Newark’s business library from 1907-1917 or 1919. Inducted into Special Library hall of fame in 1959 with Alma Mitchell. Helped found the Special Libraries Association. Later became a bookseller in New York (Ball & Wilde) and died in Hartford, CT. Born in Pennslyvania, graduated Pratt Library School in 1902. Bibliography Ball, Sarah…

  • Sarah Catherine Howard Johnson

    1907-1993 One of the first African American nurses in the Visiting Nurses Association of Newark, where she worked from 1930-1950. Nurse at Hawkins Street School from 1965-1977. Received degrees from Tuskegee Institute (1929) and Seton Hall. Member of the Graduate Nurses Association. Born in Kentucky but lived in Newark from at least 1930 (West Kinney…

  • Sarah Elizabeth Collins Houston

    1896-1986 Grandmother of Whitney Houston. Born in California in 1896 but lived in Newark on Beach St by the time she was 14. Her father was minister at St. James AME Church. She graduated from East Side in 1914 and attended Trenton State, graduating in 1916. She lived in Newark until at least 1940, when…

  • Sarah Fawcett

    1846-1899 First supervisor of drawing in Newark. She had a “strong personality which was a combination of the clean-cut principles of her Puritan ancestors and a breadth of mind, clear vision and great tolerance” (Baker). Fawcett School named in her honor. Bibliograhy Baker, Mariana Narrative for tableaux; Newark Women of the Century. Sarah Fawcett Plaque…

  • Sarah Kussy

    1870-1956 Sarah Kussy was a prolific Jewish leader. She helped found many Jewish orgs. in Newark and nationally. In Newark, she founded the Ladie’s Patriotic Relief Society in Newark and section of the National Council of Jewish Women. Bibliography Sarah Kussy Papers, Center for Jewish History K-21, Kussy, Sarah, Newark News Morgue, Newark Public Library…

  • Sarah Schloss

    1838-1924 For 38 years, president of the Frauen Verein Naechstenliebe or Friendly Sisters which was a leading Hebrew charitable organization in Newark. She was named an honorary life member and honorary president of the organization and the oldest member as of 1910, having been a member for 48 years. She lived in Newark since her…

  • Sarah Vaughan

    1924-1990 Sarah Vaughan described as having “one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century.” Vaughan grew up in Newark and attended Arts High, many of her first performances were in Newark. Bibliography Gourse, Leslie. (1994). Sassy: The Life of Sarah Vaughan. Hayes, Elaine M. (2017). Queen of bebop: the musical lives of Sarah…

  • Sarah Ward

    Feb 1833 – Feb 16, 1907 Namesake of the Sarah Ward Day Nursery, which has been in operation since 1892. The story states that she began caring for several children and soon had dozens in her care. The property at 27 Jay Street, where it still stands today, was donated soon after by Sarah Wallace.…

  • Shirley Northern Green

    c. 1935-1983 Appointed director of the Division of Public Welfare in 1978 by Ken Gibson. Previously served as Rent Control Administrator from 1974 to 1978, and in the Business Administrator’s office before that. She was forced to leave school at age 15 due to illness. In 1966, after a husband and three children she returned…

  • Sister Carol Johnston

    1944-2013 Sister Carol was born and raised in Newark and attended St. Vincent’s Academy. She was Director of the Women and Family Program at St. Columba Neighbor Club, Newark. She was project and planning Director for Ironbound Community Corporation. A boulder honoring Johnston in Riverfront Park says, “She loved Newark, fought for justice and helped…

  • Sister Deborah Humphreys

    1950- From the Hispanic Research Center at the Newark Library: “Sister Deborah Humphreys, a social worker and Catholic nun, devoted her life to helping Puerto Rican workers and their families. She worked in public health assisting farm workers poisoned with pesticides and families threatened with eviction by misleading developers. Sister Humphreys is a founding member…

  • Sophie L Cooper

    1912-1971 Sophie L. Cooper was Newark’s first elected councilwoman, in the South Ward from 1957-1962. Photo from Newark Public Library. Bibliography Digitized letters from Newark Library C-35, Cooper, Samuel E., Mrs., Newark News Morgue, Newark Public Library Biographical file in NJ Jewish News Records at the Jewish Historical Society Ad in NJ Jewish News Photograph of swearing…

  • Stella Windsor Wright

    1887-1932 From North Carolina. Social worker who helped establish the Friendly Neighborhood House with Gladys Churchman and Louise Shugard. Stella Wright Homes was named after her. She also helped to establish a Girls Club at the Belmont Ave and Montgomery Street Schools in 1926. Bibliography Cummings, Charles F. “From writers to singers these women enriched…

  • Susan Amelia Barnet

    1814-1897 Born in Mendham but raised in Newark. Member of the first class of the New York Women’s Medical College, which graduated 1865. She practiced as a physician until four years before her death. She practiced for several years in Newark (city directories through 1870) and then in New York. She died in New York…

  • Thelma Gillis

    1916-2003 First woman and first non-law school grad assistant chief of the municipal court clerks of the City of Newark. Named in 1971, deputy municipal court clerk in 1965. She was the sister of Dr. E. Alma Flagg. She lived in Newark from 1926 until her death. She retired from the courts in 1983. Bibliography…

  • Theodora Sautermeister Prieth

    1843-1906 Owned the German Newspaper the Freie Zeitung which she managed for over 20 years after her husband died, until her son took over the paper. The Newark News said, “she had a keen insight into business” and “she developed the papers resources”. Urquhart’s History of the City of Newark said, “she directed it with…

  • Theresa Knight Moore

    *See below note on surnames 15 Mar 1907 – Feb 16, 1983 First African American woman employed at Newark Public Library at Springfield Branch in 1937. She graduated the Miner Normal School in Washington DC in 1928. Previously in charge of WPA Library Project at Robert Treat Junior High. Appointment made with the help of…

  • Theresa Kraker Guthrie

    c. 1889-1959 Lived in Newark from at least 1910. Founder of the Chronically Ill Service of Essex County. Board member of the Essex County Tuberculosis League and county representative on the board of the NJ Tuberculosis Association. Served at base hospitals in France during WWI. She was the only women on a tablet at B’Nai…

  • Theresa Swartz Grotta

    1836-1922 Bohemian Jewish immigrant. Worked tirelessly on behalf of needy families in Newark, president of Hebrew Ladies Immediate Relief Society and other relief societies. Member of the National Council for Jewish Women, first president of the Newark Council for Jewish Women. In 1893 represented Newark’s Jewish Women at the Congress of Religious in Chicago. Member…

  • Tina Eugene Holtzclaw Bohannon

    1905-1999 Photo from Arts High Yearbook, 1966 An early Black teacher in Newark, hired before 1945, firstly as a “permanent sub” at Cleveland Junior High, because Black teachers could not be officially hired above primary level. Afterward she taught at 7th Avenue School and Robert Treat Elementary School, and finally became Guidance Chairman at Arts…

  • Trish Morris-Yamba

    1944*-2019 Founded the CHEN School. She was recognized as a visionary in the field of early childhood education. She was also the founding president of the Early Childhood Coalition of Newark.President of the board of trustees of the Newark Public Library and as a trustee of the NJPAC Women’s Board Association. She was also a…

  • Vera Brantley McMillon

    1909-1987 Vera McMillon worked for the Public Welfare Department for 37 years retiring as a Supervisor, co-founded Tri City People’s Organization for Progress and a branch of the National Council for Negro Women. She also co-wrote a radio program on NJ Afr. Am. history and worked with the NJ Historical Society to promote African American…

  • Violet Johnson

    1870-1939 Civic leader and suffragist in Summit. Active in the New Jersey Federation of Colored Womens Clubs and the New Jersey Women Suffrage Association. Violet Johnson’s life has been expertly chronicled in Betty Livingston Adam’s book Black Women’s Christian Activism and her biographical sketch linked below. Bibliography Adams, Betty Livingston. Black Women’s Christian Activism. Adams,…

  • Willie Belle Hooper

    1906-1999 Born in Georgia and attended school, including getting a teaching certificate in Florence, S.C, after which she taught in several rural schools. According to her daughter, Newark would not accept her teaching certificate. In her oral history she says she tried to get “in school” and couldn’t because they weren’t accepting “grown people”. She…

  • Wilma Jackson Grey

    1945- Image from Newark Library First African American woman to Direct Newark Public Library. Library employee for 46 years. Graduated Arts High 1962, Class President. Then attended Howard University. Bibliography Digital.npl.org: Photo, mentions NJ Center for the Book Newark Yearbooks

  • Wilnora Holman

    1911-1994 Wilnora Holman was a community leader in Newark and an activist in education, housing and senior services. Mrs. Holman was a Housing Authority commissioner from 1989-1995. She was also Tenant Association President at James C. White Manor, chairwoman of the Central Ward Advisory Council, and president of the George Branch Civic Association. Mrs. Holman…

  • Wynona Moore Lipman

    1923* -1999 Though Lipman is well known as a Senator, some of her early accomplishments are lesser known. She got a Fulbright scholarship at a young age, was a professor at Morehouse in French, starting in 1945, and taught Martin Luther King. Born Evelyn Wynona Moore in Georgia, Wynona married interracially when it was illegal…

  • Zelma Mitchell Collins

    1930-2023 Zelma Collins was the first black teacher at South 17th Street School in 1952 and rose to principal! Later, she was principal of Clinton Ave. She was awarded Most Outstanding Alumnus from the Seton Hall School of Education in 1980. As a child she lived on Barclay Street & Wright Street, after her parents…