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 Malvina Sears was one of the first Black students to enter Newark High from the Colored School in 1873 (right after Clara Mulford in 1872), so it’s likely Rosa’s teaching helped her accomplish this. Malvina became one of the first two Black students to graduate Newark High in 1877.
Rosa and her sister Malvina were mentioned in the 1878 book Music and Some Highly Musical People by David Trotter as “musical people”.
Bibliography
1873 Board of Education Report
1870 Board of Education Report
Census records
City directories
Newark News, Jan 29, 1930