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Peggy Officer Lista
1913-2013 Inducted into the Newark Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994 for being a basketball and track standout at Central High in the late 1920s. As of 1930, she was the only girl at Central ever to have lettered in two sports. She was also Class Secretary. Bibliography Margaret O. Liska Oct 11, 2013 Nashua…
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Ramona Santiago
c. 1952- Photo from Newark Library. Ramona Santiago was appointed deputy mayor in 1994. Her grandfather came from Spain to Newark in 1914. She operated the Santiago Funeral Home of Lafayette Street saying at appointment, “I’m raising my two children here and I want to see a better life for them and all children”. She…
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Rosa L Sears Scudder
c. 1852 – 28 Jan 1930 Rosa Sears was the mother of Clara Scudder, piano prodigy. She taught in the Colored School with James Baxter from at least 1870 until her marriage to David Scudder in 1873 and is still listed under her maiden name as a teacher in the 1874 city directory. Rosa’s sister…
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Rose A Leonardis
1916-2012 Lifelong Ironbound resident. Proprietor of the Rose A. Leonardis Funeral Home after the death of her father in 1953. She graduated from embalming school in 1950. She ran the funeral home until she retired in 1999. Active in many organizations including the Saint James Hospital Ladie’s Auxiliary, NJ Funeral Directors Association, St. Jame’s Parish…
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Rose Baldasare Maker
1913-1997 1939 Women’s Singles NJ Tennis Champion and the Newark Open Champion 4 years in succession. Lived at 258 Van Buren St. Graduate of East Side High. After marriage member of Newark’s Municipal Career Women, served in city role’s from 1941 including supervising accounts of Newark City Hospital. She was administrate analyst in the Office…
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Rose Danzis Parsonnett
c. 1900-2003 Duaghter of Max Danzis, a founder of Beth Israel Hospital and Jennie Danzis. Attended South Side High School and Wellesley College. Supporter of music and the arts. Taught piano, active in the NJ League of Women Voters, and President of the NJ Chapter of the National Council for Jewish Women. Served as a…
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Rose Slavitt
1895-1969 Born in Newark, but grew up in New York for some years (1910). Back in Newark by 1915. First woman to manage a department at Prudential Insurance Co. in 1952. She was manager of Debit Policy Division 2 and worked for Prudential for man years. She liked theater, books, music, art and travel and…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Sheila D Banks
1956-1992 Sheila Banks was 2nd in the Class of 1974 at Weequahic High School. She was the first Black women to graduate from Steven’s Institute of Technology in 1978 (the school began admitting women in 1971). She received an engineering degree, with a concentration in chemical engineering. In 1974 she completed a Cornell University program…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Sylvia Guarino
26 Dec 1945- First woman deputy mayor in Newark, appointed by Mayor James in 1986. The full time position paid $28300 and the purpose was to “serve as a conduit between the government and its citizens” and “assist the day-to-day operation”. She envisioned improving quality of life, working with the community and working with various ethnic…
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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…
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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…
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Theresa David
1923-2004 Theresa S. David was the first Black teacher to be hired permanently at a High School. Previously, Black teachers were only hired on temporary status or as subs. She shows up on the results of the Civil Service test for “secondary Spanish” in the Newark News in 1947, but other sources give her start…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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
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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…
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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…
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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…