19 10 193 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource People People An individual. Metadata for a person provides detailed biographical information to describe the life of a historical figure. Birth Date 1930-10-8 Birthplace Harlem, New York, USA Death Date 2024-04-13 Occupation Artist Activist, Civil Rights Activist, Women's Rights Source of File Attached “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_Ringgold">Faith Ringgold</a>.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 19 July 2024. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Ringgold, Faith Willi Jones (1930-2024) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Duffy, Robert W. "Faith Ringgold's Art." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 31 Mar. 1994, p. 1, 7. “<a href="http://www.faithringgold.com/about-faith/">About Faith</a>.” Faith Ringgold. <div></div> “<a href="http://www.theartstory.org/artist/ringgold-faith/">Faith Ringgold Paintings, Bio, Ideas</a>.” The Art Story. Subject The topic of the resource Civil Rights Movement Activism, Civil Rights Activism, Women’s Rights Description An account of the resource Born Faith Ringgold is a painter and sculptor. She enrolled in City College of New York for art education and received her degree in 1955. She earned a master's in 1959. She began teaching in New York public schools and eventually at the University of California San Diego. Her artwork focused on African and African American heritage, especially women's roles. She used the Civil Rights Movement, the Harlem Renaissance, and African art as inspirations. In the 1970s Ringgold began experimenting with fabric and three-dimensional mediums, creating quilts and mixed media sculptures. Ringgold was a women's rights and civil rights activist. She was a member of Women Artists in Revolution. She founded the Women Students and Artists for Black Art Liberation and the Coast-to-Coast National Women Artists of Color Projects. She married twice, first to Robert Earl Wallace from 1950 to 1954. Her second marriage was to Burdette Ringgold in 1962. She lived with him in Englewood. She had two daughters, Michele Faith Wallace and Barbara Faith Wallace. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Colman, David Ludder, Rachelle African African American Art Race Women Women's Rights Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource People Event A non-persistent, time-based occurrence. Metadata for an event provides descriptive information that is the basis for discovery of the purpose, location, duration, and responsible agents associated with an event. Examples include an exhibition, webcast, conference, workshop, open day, performance, battle, trial, wedding, tea party, conflagration. Date Started 1951-11-10 Date Ended 1951-11-10 Source of File Attached "Mayor M. Leslie Denning." The Messenger, 15 Nov. 1951, p. 6. Type of Event Government Proceedings Meeting Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource First Direct Transcontinental Phone Call (1951) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived "Mayor M. Leslie Denning." The Messenger, 15 Nov. 1951, p. 6. Subject The topic of the resource Politics, Englewood Description An account of the resource The First Direct-Dial Transcontinental Call On October 1, 1927, employees gathered on the roof of the Engle Street telephone building in Englewood to raise the new flag of the New Jersey Bell Telephone Company, marking the formal transfer of local service from New York Telephone to the newly organized New Jersey subsidiary. The ceremony symbolized Englewood’s integration into the statewide Bell System network. Few present that day could have imagined that within a generation the same community would host one of the most important technological milestones in American communications history. That moment came nearly a quarter-century later. On November 10, 1951, Englewood again stood at the center of a communications breakthrough. Mayor M. Leslie Denning, accustomed to making ordinary civic calls, lifted the receiver of his black rotary phone and dialed ten digits. Standing beside him were executives and engineers from AT&T and Bell Laboratories. Nearly 3,000 miles away in Alameda, California, Mayor Frank Osborne answered his ringing telephone. In just eighteen seconds, the first direct-dial transcontinental telephone call in history had been completed without the assistance of an operator. The significance of the moment becomes clear when contrasted with earlier efforts. In 1915, a transcontinental call from San Francisco to New York required as many as five operators and could take more than twenty minutes to arrange. Even in 1951, routine long-distance calls typically required an operator to connect circuits manually. The Englewood–Alameda call demonstrated that automation had reached a point where coast-to-coast dialing could occur almost instantaneously. Englewood was selected for the test in part because of a modified switching system already in place at the Engle Street central office. That system enabled direct dialing throughout New Jersey and parts of New York and could be expanded westward across interconnected Bell exchanges. The call was made possible by two critical developments of the postwar period: the introduction of the North American Numbering Plan in 1947, which assigned area codes (including 201 for New Jersey), and the steady advancement of automated switching technology developed at Bell Labs facilities in New Jersey, including Holmdel. Direct-distance dialing fundamentally changed the economics and psychology of telephone use. Automation removed the costs associated with operator-assisted calls, shortened connection times, and made placing a long-distance call more private and spontaneous. Instead of asking an operator, “Number, please?” callers dialed directly. Businesses could act faster. Families could connect more easily. Call volumes increased steadily following the innovation. The Englewood call was not an isolated event but part of a broader transformation in telecommunications infrastructure. It foreshadowed later advances such as fax transmission and early telephone-supported online access. The automation pioneered in the 1950s would continue evolving through the installation of the Electronic Switching System (ESS) in the early 1970s at the Englewood central office. In March 1973, New Jersey Bell invited 35,000 customers to tour the facility and witness the computer-like switching equipment that introduced features such as call waiting and call forwarding — technological conveniences now taken for granted. From the 1927 flag raising that marked the birth of New Jersey Bell in Englewood, to the historic 1951 transcontinental direct-dial call, the Engle Street office became more than a regional utility hub. It was a testing ground for national innovation. Englewood’s role in the Bell System story illustrates how a suburban New Jersey community helped shape the infrastructure of modern communication. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Colman, David Ludder, Rachelle Government Technology Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource People People An individual. Metadata for a person provides detailed biographical information to describe the life of a historical figure. Birth Date 1933-11-25 Birthplace Durban, South Africa Death Date 2014-08-18 Occupation Social Worker Activist, Political Source of File Attached Kremen, Maya. "Intriguing People: Violet Cherry." The Record, 11 Nov. 2007, p. A10. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Cherry, Violet Daisy Naicker (1933-2014) Subject The topic of the resource Health Care Politics, Englewood Social Services Social Welfare System Immigrants, African Adolescent Pregnancy Description An account of the resource Violet Cherry was a social worker and political activist. At the age of 12, the South African government jailed her briefly for protesting the racist Apartheid laws that discriminated against her due to her Indian heritage. She began social work at 16. She had an arranged marriage but was later divorced and moved to the United States. Cherry completed her Master's in Social Work and Public Health from Columbia University. In 1974, the City of Englewood hired Cherry as the Director of the Health Department. In 1992 she was the Democratic municipal chairwoman. In 2006 however, she was suspended from the Health Department due to accusations that she was engaging in political activities using department resources. She later resigned in 2007. She had two sons, Lloyd Padayachi and David Jr. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Kremen, Maya. "Intriguing People: Violet Cherry." The Record, 11 Nov. 2007, p. A10. Lueddeke, Kim. "Englewood mourns a 'warrior.'" The Record, 22 Aug. 2014, p. L-1, L-6. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Colman, David Ludder, Rachelle Africa Apartheid Children Health Politics Social Welfare Social Work Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource People People An individual. Metadata for a person provides detailed biographical information to describe the life of a historical figure. Occupation Athlete Source of File Attached Rowe, John. "Willoughby can do no wrong as Englewood wins." The Record, 20 Mar. 1975, p. 61. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Basco, Maurice (?-?) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Rowe, John. "Willoughby can do no wrong as Englewood wins." The Record, 20 Mar. 1975, p. 61. Drogo, Ron. "Basco leads Englewood to Jamboree crown." The Record, 4 Mar. 1974, p. B-5 Subject The topic of the resource Sports, Basketball Description An account of the resource Maurice Basco was a basketball player for Dwight Morrow High School in the mid-1970s. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Colman, David Ludder, Rachelle Sports Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource People People An individual. Metadata for a person provides detailed biographical information to describe the life of a historical figure. Birth Date 1957-05-20 Birthplace Englewood, NJ, USA Occupation Athlete Source of File Attached Rowe, John. "Macklin puts on a big push for Englewood starting job." The Record, 5 Jan. 1975, p. C-7. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Willoughby, William "Bill" Wesley (1957-?) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Rowe, John. "Macklin puts on a big push for Englewood starting job." The Record, 5 Jan. 1975, p. C-7. Steinlauf, Rich. "Birdsong toes the line in his quest to improve." The Record, 28 Sep. 1984, p. B-5. Brunt, Cliff. “<a href="http://www.theoaklandpress.com/2021/12/09/unlike-in-todays-nba-no-safety-net-for-prep-stars-in-1970s/">Unlike in Today’s NBA, No Safety Net for Prep Stars in 1970s.</a>” The Oakland Press, 9 Dec. 2021. <div></div> “<a href="http://www.legendsofbasketball.com/alumni/bill-willoughby/">Bill Willoughby: National Basketball Retired Players Association</a>.” July 3, 2024 | National Basketball Retired Players Association, 26 Jan. 2018. Subject The topic of the resource Sports, Basketball Description An account of the resource William "Bill" Wesley Willoughby was a professional basketball player born in Englewood. He attended Dwight-Morrow High School. He was one of the first high school players to be selected in an NBA draft in 1975. He played for the Atlanta Hawks, Buffalo Braves, Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, and the New Jersey Nets. His last season was in 1984. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Colman, David Ludder, Rachelle Sports https://archive.englewoodmakeshistory.org/files/original/abedce1efc6e322210c016b596c7ba8d.jpg ea238d106827d61bea120a66515e9467 https://archive.englewoodmakeshistory.org/files/original/163e0ab744fc70820493a7b8be013958.jpg 9a5b9781fb5c453b890d50b646693c58 https://archive.englewoodmakeshistory.org/files/original/9a0edbd71385c249771422d7f97080c6.jpg f75424f58122bb73d4f2cd40cd64b194 https://archive.englewoodmakeshistory.org/files/original/59c05e6a37ac6d1b34fe0d8d613c6406.jpg 9889b01c26f9042c15fce52ffcabb41d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource People People An individual. Metadata for a person provides detailed biographical information to describe the life of a historical figure. Birth Date 1891-03-01 Birthplace Englewood, New Jersey, USA Death Date 1973-10-21 Occupation Activist, Civil Rights Journalist Civic Leader Source of File Attached Alexander, Otis. <a href="http://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/people-african-american-history/alexander-louis-jackson-ii-1891-1973/">“Alexander Louis Jackson, II (1891-1973).”</a> Blackpast, 30 Nov. 2022. <div></div> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Jackson, Alexander Louis (1891-1973) Description An account of the resource <h2>Alexander Louis Jackson (1891–1971)</h2> Scholar, Institution Builder, and Civil Rights Strategist Alexander Louis Jackson was born on March 1, 1891, in Englewood, New Jersey, and grew up on William and Humphrey Streets in the heart of the city’s historic African American Fourth Ward community. At the time of his childhood, roughly 400 African Americans—about six percent of Englewood’s population—lived in the city. Nearly sixty percent resided in the Fourth Ward near West Palisade Avenue, while others worked primarily as live-in domestics in the homes of Englewood’s industrial and banking elite. From an early age, Jackson distinguished himself as a scholar and leader. In 1905 he graduated first in his class from Liberty School, delivering the valedictory address. He entered Englewood High School that fall, excelling in debate, football, baseball, and track, while also selling newspapers to help support his family. He later completed his secondary education at Phillips Academy Andover, where he won the Means Prize for best essay and delivered the commencement speech in 1910. That same year, Jackson entered Harvard University. He quickly made his mark on the track team, setting a freshman record in the 220-yard low hurdles in competition against Yale and later competing in intercollegiate meets, including a second-place finish in the 120-yard high hurdles behind Olympian James Wendell. Academically, he studied German, English, and economics, graduating in 1914 eleventh in a class of 135. Elected class orator, he was praised in the press as a product of New Jersey’s public schools who might become “a second Booker T. Washington.” He accomplished all of this while holding outside employment to finance his education. <h3>Founding the Institutional Black History Movement</h3> In 1915, while serving as executive secretary of the Wabash Avenue YMCA in Chicago, Jackson hosted a pivotal meeting with Carter G. Woodson, William B. Hartgrove, George Cleveland Hall, and James E. Stamps. The men were in Chicago for the National Half Century Exposition and Lincoln Jubilee commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of emancipation. Out of their discussions emerged the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH). Jackson had first met Woodson at Harvard, where Woodson was completing his doctorate in history—the second African American to earn a Ph.D. from the university, after W.E.B. Du Bois. Together, they envisioned more than a commemorative observance. They sought to build an enduring intellectual infrastructure for Black history. The ASNLH launched the Journal of Negro History in 1916 and established Negro History Week in 1926, which later evolved into Black History Month. Their work built on a longer tradition of African American commemorations of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass and on educational initiatives such as Mary Church Terrell’s establishment of Frederick Douglass Day in Washington, D.C., schools. Jackson and his colleagues mobilized churches, fraternities, sororities, schools, and civic organizations in a year-round effort to produce and disseminate scholarship about African American life and achievement. <h3>Civic Leadership and Business Influence</h3> Beyond scholarship, Jackson moved fluidly between civic activism and business leadership. He helped found the Chicago branch of the National Urban League in 1917 and later served as education secretary for the organization. From 1921 to 1924 he was assistant publisher of the Chicago Defender, then the nation’s largest Black-owned newspaper, becoming general manager in 1925. He also served as president of the Board of Trustees of Provident Hospital and Training School, the first African American-owned and operated hospital in the United States. Jackson became a successful real estate investor and remained active in youth development through the YMCA, Boys Scouts, and Boys Club Foundation. Though based in Chicago and later Michigan, he maintained close ties to Englewood. In 1926 he invited W.E.B. Du Bois to speak at an “Older Boys” conference held at Englewood’s First Baptist Church, part of a broader effort to address what reformers called the growing “boys problem” of delinquency. <h3>A Legal Stand Against Segregation</h3> In 1933, Jackson brought a pioneering civil rights lawsuit in St. Joseph County, Michigan, after a white resort owner posted a “whites only” notice on his automobile while Jackson and his family were swimming at a public beach at Lake Fisher. Jackson sued for humiliation and discrimination. Although the court awarded only symbolic damages of one dollar, the ruling affirmed that African Americans could challenge racial exclusion successfully in court—an important, if incremental, legal victory in the era before modern civil rights legislation. <h3>Family and Generational Achievement</h3> In 1914 Jackson married Charlotte E. Walker. They had four children: Caroline Booth Jackson, Alexander Louis Jackson III, William Edward Jackson, and Winslow Loring Jackson. After Charlotte’s death in 1928, Jackson married Jana Lenas Booth, who died in 1966. In 1968 he married Marie Poston. Jackson’s commitment to education extended to his children. A 1943 newspaper feature highlighted the family’s remarkable academic legacy. His eldest son, Alexander Louis Jackson III, graduated from Harvard University after first attending Phillips Andover and the University of Pennsylvania. At Andover he lettered in football and track and captained the track team; at Harvard he majored in sociology and served on his senior class committee. His second son, William Edward Jackson, graduated from Phillips Andover and prepared to follow in the family’s footsteps. William, like his father, excelled as a hurdler and participated in class leadership activities. The youngest son, Winslow Loring Jackson, was also educated at Andover. All three sons traced a direct educational lineage from their father, who himself had graduated from Andover in 1910 and Harvard in 1914. The story of the Jackson family—rooted in Englewood’s Fourth Ward and extending to elite institutions like Andover and Harvard—illustrates both the barriers African Americans confronted in the early twentieth century and the extraordinary determination required to overcome them. Education, athletic excellence, institutional building, and civic engagement formed the throughline across generations. Alexander Louis Jackson’s life stands at the intersection of local Black community life in Englewood, national institution building in Chicago, and early civil rights litigation in Michigan. He was not merely a participant in the Black history movement—he helped institutionalize it. His work ensured that African American history would be researched, published, taught, and commemorated long before it entered mainstream curricula. And through his children, that commitment to education and leadership continued into the next generation. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Colman, David Ludder, Rachelle Subject The topic of the resource Activism, Civil Rights Newspapers Medical Services Englewood New Jersey, Fourth Ward African American Civil Rights Newspapers https://archive.englewoodmakeshistory.org/files/original/eb476135a55adb23bf90e84947611c5a.jpg 72b90d84abc8a49efc0db52da4a93d00 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource People People An individual. Metadata for a person provides detailed biographical information to describe the life of a historical figure. Occupation Event Planner Talent Acquisition Specialist Source of File Attached “<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyhansen">Yale Lenny Hansen - President - LTB Entertainment</a>.” LinkedIn. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Hansen, Yale Lenny (?-?) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived “<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyhansen">Yale Lenny Hansen - President - LTB Entertainment</a>.” LinkedIn. “<a href="https://ltbentertainment.com/">LTB Entertainment: Get Tickets to Live Events Happening near You - LTB Entertainment</a>.” LTB Entertainment - Get Tickets to Live Events Happening Near You. <div></div> Description An account of the resource Yale Lenny Hansen is an event planner and talent acquisition specialist. He graduated from Norfolk State University with an Associate's in business administration. In 2006 he became the president of LTB Entertainment Inc. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Colman, David Ludder, Rachelle Entertainment https://archive.englewoodmakeshistory.org/files/original/2ffbb7040c3f7f9c6decf393c62df97b.jpeg 02b37062226007caf4b6d55748959915 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource People People An individual. Metadata for a person provides detailed biographical information to describe the life of a historical figure. Occupation Fashion Designer Source of File Attached Yalong, Amable. "Amable Yalong." Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Yalong, Amable (?-?) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived "<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/amable-yalong-171209b/">Amable Yalong - Y2 Collection</a>.” LinkedIn. Putnam, Alyssa. “<a href="http://www.waymakerjournal.com/interior-design/">Interior Design</a>.” Waymaker Journal, 5 Mar. 2024. <div></div> Description An account of the resource Amable Yalong is a fashion designer. He was self-taught before attending the Fashion Institute of Technology. He is the owner of Y2 Collection, a men's fashion boutique. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Colman, David Ludder, Rachelle https://archive.englewoodmakeshistory.org/files/original/973ca6759acf791ccd60df5855289b1f.jpg 76ff391686fec7734352af14e230050c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource People People An individual. Metadata for a person provides detailed biographical information to describe the life of a historical figure. Death Date 1994 Occupation Politician Pharmacist Source of File Attached "Principals at Congregation's Services Briefed." The Record, September 21, 1959, p.3. Birth Date 1900 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Moskin, Albert (1900-1994) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Gavin, John A. "Albert Moskin, 94; ex-Bergen freeholder." The Record, June 14, 1994, p.31. Subject The topic of the resource Politics, Englewood Religion, Judaism Englewood New Jersey, Fourth Ward Veterans Medical Services Description An account of the resource Albert Moskin devoted more than three decades to public service, becoming one of the most influential municipal leaders in Englewood's twentieth-century history. A lifelong Englewood resident, Moskin's political career began in 1929 when he was appointed to the city's Board of Police Commissioners, launching a public career that would span thirty-six years. In 1933, Moskin was elected councilman from Englewood's Fourth Ward, a position he held until 1951. Remarkably, he repeatedly won election in a predominantly Democratic ward despite being a Republican, reflecting the personal respect he earned across political lines. After serving briefly as councilman-at-large, he was elected mayor, leading the city from 1954 through 1959. During the latter part of his public career, he also represented Bergen County as a county freeholder, serving until his retirement from government in 1965. Beyond elected office, Moskin maintained a successful career as a pharmacist. After decades in the profession, he opened Moskin's Pharmacy on West Palisade Avenue in 1962 and continued operating the business until 1980, long after leaving public office. Friends and family remembered him as someone who placed community service above politics, frequently helping residents find employment, assisting local institutions, and making himself available whenever neighbors needed assistance. Moskin was also deeply involved in civic and religious life. He belonged to Congregation Ahavath Torah in Englewood and participated in numerous community organizations, including the Englewood Jewish Community Center, the American Legion, the Jewish War Veterans, the Bergen County Pharmaceutical Association, and the Englewood chapter of B'nai B'rith. Born on March 5, 1900, Moskin served for nine months during World War I before pursuing higher education at Columbia University, New York University, and Rutgers University's Newark College of Pharmacy. He married Rose Moskin, who predeceased him in 1987. Together they raised two sons, Donald and Alan. When Albert Moskin died in 1994 at the age of ninety-four, he left behind a legacy defined by decades of public service, civic leadership, and dedication to the people of Englewood. His uncommon ability to earn the trust of residents across political divides made him one of the city's most respected public figures of the twentieth century. Health Politics Religion Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource People People An individual. Metadata for a person provides detailed biographical information to describe the life of a historical figure. Birth Date 1932-04-21 Birthplace Englewood, New Jersey, USA Occupation Politician Activist, Civil Rights Lawyer Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Brown, Arnold (1932-?) Type The nature or genre of the resource Other Subject The topic of the resource Englewood New Jersey, Fourth Ward Politics, Bergen County Activism, African American Description An account of the resource Arnold Brown was born on April 12, 1932, in Englewood, Brown's family had deep roots in New Jersey and Englewood. Arnold’s great-great-grandfather, John Brown, was born into the Ramapough Munsee Lenape Nation. His five-time great-grandparents James and Catherine Oliver settled in Skunk Hollow. Their son Joseph married Flora Ann Cisco and settled in Englewood. James and Catherine's granddaughter Ollie married Arnold's grandfather, a Pullman named John Scott Brown. Arnold Brown was also descended from J. and Susan Oliver who were enslaved in Bergen County. Brown grew up in the 4th ward and attended Lincoln Elementary during a time of racial segregation. He then attended Dwight Morrow High School. Brown graduated from Bowling Green State University and received his law degree in 1957 from Rutgers University. He practiced law from 1957 to 1986. Brown became a key figure in the Civil Rights movement in Englewood as a leader of the NAACP and Urban League. He also founded the Du Bois Book Center, which focuses on African American Studies. On August 28, 1963, Brown sat several rows behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream,” speech. The next year Brown was part of a group of thirty civil rights leaders who met with President Lyndon Johnson in the White House. In 1965, Brown became the first African American elected to the state legislature from Bergen County. In the 1980s and 1990s, Brown became a prominent historian of African American history in Bergen County. He laid most of the groundwork for the uninvestigated black history of the area. This includes the history of black Civil War soldiers, African American burial grounds, and important black figures. He served as a trustee on the Englewood Library Board, Chair of the Bergen County Juneteenth Celebration Committee, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the First Baptist Church of Teaneck, a member of the Bergen County Human Relations Committee, the Bergen County Historic Preservation Advisory Board and has remained active in the Kappa Theta Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha. He married Lydia Barbara White in 1955. After her death, Brown married Gwendolyn Wertby. He has four children, Crystal L., Beverly M. Brown-Fitzhugh, Dale E. Brown-Davis, and Arnold E. EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY HISTORY Arnold Brown was born on April 12, 1932, in Englewood. He is connected to the strongest and deepest anchor and sinker roots that provide strength and stability to the city's black community in the 4th ward. These roots include Bennettsville, South Carolina, Skunk Hollow in Harrington Township, and the Ramapough Munsee Lenape nation in Bergen, Passaic, and Rockland counties. Brown’s mother, Hortense Melle Stubbs was born in 1906 in Bennettsville, South Carolina. In the late 19th century, hundreds of black Bennettsville residents began to head north to work as domestic servants, chauffeurs, and gardeners in the mansion being built for the prominent industrialists and bankers on the city’s East Hill. Bennettsville was known for its cotton plantations worked by enslaved African Americans. After the Civil War, the small town’s economy revolved around the railroad and a cotton mill. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the condition of the town’s African Americans deteriorated. The rise of Jim Crow segregation, convict leasing, disenfranchisement, lynching, and the boll weevil’s destruction of the cotton economy convinced many of the town’s black residents to look North. Today, there are still dozens of African American families in Englewood with ties to Bennettsville. Brown’s father, John Scott Brown was a postal worker born in Englewood in 1907. He had deep roots in Bergen County, one of the anchor roots holding the 4th ward’s black community in place. He was a direct descendent of an enslaved man and woman named J. and Susan Oliver, who married in the mid-1700s. Bergen County had more enslaved African Americans than any other County. During their lifetimes, enslaved African Americans made up more than 20% of Bergen County’s population and more than 40% of its workforce. At the time most of the enslaved people in Bergen County had arrived on slave ships from West Africa in either Perth Amboy or New York Harbor. The enslaved worked in all occupations and built most of the County’s thriving Dutch and English farms. On these farms enslaved peoples harvested wheat, corn, and rye, maintained the orchards, and herded cattle, pigs, and horses. Enslaved Africans and second and third-generation enslaved Africans also did much of the work in the iron mines of northwestern Bergen County. The copper mine in what is now Arlington, which helped make Arent Schuyler wealthy, was discovered by a man he enslaved. The enslaved in Bergen County, like J. and Susan Oliver, faced a particularly brutal form of slavery. In the South, the larger plantations offered some degree of protection from the constant surveillance and cruelties of white enslavers. In Bergen County, however, most enslaved African Americans lived and worked in close proximity to their enslavers on small farms. The tensions that built in such environments often led to severe punishments for infractions of the slave code. Runaway slaves were often branded with their enslaver’s initials and enslaved people who stole or committed other “crimes” were whipped bare-bodied as they were cuffed to the back of a moving cart. Many enslaved persons were lashed at the County’s whipping post where the statue of General Enoch Poor now stands on the Hackensack greens. Bergen County was also known for the “frequent” “burning” of enslaved African Americans who committed certain crimes. These “crimes” could range from murder to physically attacking a white enslaver. According to reports “One way of punishing a slave for murder was to cut off his right hand, burn it before his eyes, then hang him, and afterward burn his body.’ The enslaved in Bergen County also had to face the daily fear of being illegally kidnapped and sold South by the infamous “Van Wickle Slave Ring,” led by Middlesex County Court Judge, Jacob Van Wickle. As slavery declined in Bergen County in the 19th century, Arnold Brown’s 5 times great-grandparents, James and Catherine Oliver, found refuge and hope in Skunk Hollow, or “The Mountain.” Skunk Hollow was a free black settlement in what is now Alpine. After some difficulty, because of his former slave status, James Oliver purchased land in Skunk Hollow in 1840. The Olivers established a family burial ground on their land. By the late 1800s, Skunk Hollow had 13 mostly home-owning households and a population of 75. One of the community’s wealthier residents, a man named William Thompson, also known as Reverend Billy, established a successful church named St. Charles African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. The church, known as the “Swamp Church,” is now located in Sparkill, New York. James and Catherine’s son Joseph married an Englewood woman named Flora Ann Cisco and he settled in the Highwood section of Englewood in what is now the 3rd ward. Their granddaughter Ollie, married Arnold’s grandfather, a Pullman porter named John Scott Brown, who also was born and raised in Englewood in the 4th ward. John Scott’s father, John Brown, is the tie to the third anchor root that connects the 4th ward to place. John Brown was born in the Ramapo Mountains into the Ramapough Munsee Lenape nation in Rockland County. The Ramapough, locally known as the Ramapough Mountain Indians or by the pejorative term “Jackson Whites,” are a Munsee-speaking group of the Lenape People, a subgroup of people under the Algonquian-speaking people. There were around 20,000 Lenni Lenape in New Jersey and parts of Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New York in the early 1600s when the Dutch colonists arrived. A combination of the mid-17th century Dutch wars of extermination, disease, and “Indian Removal” caused the number of Lenape people to have dwindled to several thousand by the 1800s. The Ramapough were part of the remaining Lenape groups. In the 18th and 19th centuries, free Afro-Dutch and African-American migrants moved into the Ramapough mountains intermarrying with some of the Munsee Lenape people. In the 19th and 20th centuries, many Ramapough people found work in the emerging cities of southern Bergen County and a number of these migrants, like Arnold’s great-great grandfather, John Brown, settled in Englewood’s 4th ward. STUDENT Arnold enrolled in Lincoln Elementary School on West Englewood Avenue in what was then known as “Little Texas.” Englewood’s schools had become increasingly segregated at that point. Although New Jersey was one of twelve states that prohibited racially segregated schools, in 1936 Englewood had 66 “colored” schools serving 3,845 students and employing 419 black teachers. In Englewood, most black children were segregated into Lincoln Elementary. The year before Brown was born, 70% of the children attending Lincoln were African American. When Brown started first grade in 1938, black students made up 90% of the student body. There were no black students at Cleveland Elementary in the 3rd ward or Roosevelt Elementary in the 2nd ward. The year Brown entered Lincoln, the City Council under the guise of ‘overpopulation’ at Franklin Middle School, voted to segregate the city’s middle school population by creating an all-black Junior High School at Lincoln. There were also no black teachers at Lincoln and the students faced inefficient teachers, discriminatory promotion practices, inadequate remedial work, and prevention from transferring to other elementary schools even though this was common practice for white students and the city’s Board of Education. In 1945, Brown entered the integrated Dwight Morrow High School where he watched the legendary Dwight Morrow basketball player Sherman White play against the legendary Coach Vince Lombardi’s St. Cecilia’s Saints. After graduating Dwight Morrow in 1949, Brown went on to Bowling Green State University where he earned a B.A. in Political Science and Psychology and then graduated from Rutgers Law School with a Juris Doctor Degree in 1957. LAWYER, CIVIL RIGHTS, AND POLITICIAN After graduating from Rutgers, Brown returned to Englewood where he set up his law practice. He soon joined the growing civil rights movement and helped build what would become the nationally known Englewood Movement that desegregated Englewood’s elementary schools, Bergen County’s swimming pools, and a notoriously discriminatory housing market. First as President of the Bergen County NAACP and later as President of the Bergen County Urban League, Brown played a critical role in efforts to integrate Englewood’s Quarles and Cleveland Elementary Schools. Brown’s civil rights activism led him to national prominence. On August 28, 1963, Brown sat several rows behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream,” speech. The next year Brown was part of a group of thirty civil rights leaders who met with President Lyndon Johnson in the White House. The following year Bergen County voters elected Brown to the New Jersey State Assembly, making him the first African American from the County to sit in that legislative body. As an assemblyman, Brown authored the “Tenants Reprisal Act,” and “Prohibition of Discrimination in All Employment” bills. Brown also played a critical role in easing tensions during Englewood’s 1967 “race riot” and supported urban renewal projects to provide decent low-income housing to Englewood’s 4th ward. Brown’s legislative aide was a young Jewish civil rights activist named Byron Baer. Baer would go on to have a long-distinguished career in the New Jersey state legislature and serve as president of the National Association of Jewish Legislators. During the 1960s, Brown served on the Board of Directors of Rutgers University, the boards of the Bergen County Girl Scouts, the Salvation Army, and the New Jersey Law Enforcement Planning Agency. HISTORIAN AND CIVIC LEADER In the 1970s and early 1980s, Brown established the Dubois Book Center in his home, which became a center of African American and Black Studies in northern New Jersey. He began to conduct research into the un-investigated history of African Americans in Bergen County. Over the next three decades, Brown laid the groundwork for the study of black history in Englewood and Bergen County. Brown has done important work in recovering the history of and locating slave burial sites in the state. His recovery and mapping of the African American burial grounds of Gethsemane Cemetery in Little Ferry was groundbreaking. The cemetery is listed on the National and State Registers of Historic Places and is now managed by the Bergen County Department of Parks Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs. School children often visit the site and the cemetery hosts annual Juneteenth celebrations. Brown’s scholarship extends beyond slave burial sites to include important research and writing on 19th-century black businesspeople in Bergen County including Alfred P. Smith and Elizabeth Dulfur. Brown published an important chapter on African Americans in the Revolutionary War in Bergen County titled “Black Loyalists in Bergen County and ‘The Book of Negroes,’ which appears in an edited collection of the essay "The Revolutionary War in Bergen County: The Times That Tried Men’s Soul" by Carol Karels. His work has also appeared in "Images of America: Englewood and Englewood Cliffs" and "Past and Promise: Lives of New Jersey Woman." Brown has also made significant contributions to our understanding of the role that African American soldiers from Bergen County played in the Civil War. At the start of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln and most Congressmen opposed enlisting black soldiers in the Union Army. Initially Lincoln reassured southern states that he was opposed to ending slavery and supported removing free African Americans from the United States and moving them to countries like Haiti. Most New Jersey politicians were fiercely opposed to enlisting black soldiers. New Jersey’s pro-southern and pro-slavery “Cooperhead” Democratic Party controlled the state legislature throughout the Civil War and won the gubernatorial race in 1864. Abraham Lincoln lost in New Jersey in 1860 to Democrat John Breckinridge and in 1864 against Democrat General George B. McClellan. Bergen County voted overwhelmingly for these pro-slavery Democrats. In 1877, New Jersey voters elected McClellan the 24th governor. Despite such opposition, Brown has helped uncover and tell the story of the successful mobilization of black men in New Jersey to enlist in the Union Army. By the end of the Civil War, almost 3,000 black men from the state had served in the United States Colored Troops and as Brown reveals, at least 100 of these soldiers hailed from Bergen County. Bergen County’s own Sergent Samual Thompson played a key role in fighting for the fair treatment of black veterans after the war ended. In 1865 Thompson forced the state of New Jersey to live up to its promise to pay the widows of Union soldiers a $6 a month pension. Until Thompson complained, New Jersey was only paying the widows of white soldiers. As Brown pioneered the study of African Americans in Bergen County, he remained active in civic life. He served as a trustee on the Englewood Library Board, Chair of the Bergen County Juneteenth Celebration Committee, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the First Baptist Church of Teaneck, a member of the Bergen County Human Relations Committee, the Bergen County Historic Preservation Advisory Board and has remained active in the Kappa Theta Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_E._Brown">Arnold E. Brown</a>.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Feb. 2024. <div></div> Maag, Christopher. “<a href="http://www.northjersey.com/story/news/columnists/christopher-maag/2018/05/10/englewood-historian-and-activist-long-journey-civil-rights-arnold-brown/592656002/.%20Accessed%2022%20June%202024">An Englewood Man’s ‘long Journey’ of Fighting Racism in Bergen County</a>.” North Jersey Media Group, North Jersey, 10 May 2018. <div></div> "Democratic Assembly Aspirants Have Pet Issues They Support." The Record, October 28, 1965, p.7. Kerwick, Mike. "The used-book store is becoming a relic." The Record, March 11, 2007, p. F1, F7. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Colman, David Ludder, Rachelle African American Civil Rights Politics Race