1923* -1999
Wynona Lipman is well known as the first Black woman in the New Jersey Senate. You can read her full detailed biography from the Center for American Women and Politics here.
Some of Wynona’s 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 in Georgia (while in France on her Fulbright).
Wynona was the first black woman in the NJ State Senate. She moved to Newark in 1973, to run for the 29th district Senate seat and was reelected through 1997. This district includes most of Newark. She advocated for women’s’ and family causes.
Wynona was an associate professor of business and politics at Essex County College. She died in Newark in 1999. Mayor James said on her death that in her life she had “tremendous personal and public accomplishment”.
*Senator Lipman never disclosed her age. The NJ State record has her birth date as 1931, but she is shown on the 1930 census 8 years old and 1923 is the birth date consensus from scholars.
Bibliography
Wynona Lipman Papers, Newark Library, partially digitized at digital.npl.org
Photo from Newark Library.
Sims, Stephanie. Wynona Lipman.
“Trailblazer” New Jersey Globe
“800 At Funeral” Star Ledger May 14, 1999
“Senator Lipman Trailblazer for Women” Star Ledger May 11, 1999