New Jersey Women Who Belong in the Curriculum

New Jersey Women Who Belong in the Curriculum

• Sarah Livingston Alexander (1725-1804). Alexander, also known as Lady Stirling, was a socialite and member of prominent families during the Revolutionary era. Source: https://exhibitions.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/bios/l/salivingston.html
• Dr. Elizabeth Rock Brackett (1892-1974). Brackett received her R.N. from the New York City Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing in 1915 and served from 1917 to 1919 in WWI with the British Expeditionary Forces in France. She earned an M.D. in 1929 at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons and interned at Newark City Hospital. Source: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56940232/elizabeth-rock-brackett
• Margaret Creswell (1899-1978). In 1924, Creswell, a longtime Atlantic City resident, became the first female Police Officer in both Atlantic City and the State of New Jersey. In 1927, she became a permanent member of the Police Department. Source: http://www.acfpl.org/markers/28-historical-markers/atlantic-city-historical-markers/268-margaret-qmaggieq-creswell#
• Dorothy Allen Conley Elam (1904-1989). Elam was a teacher, historian, media producer, and advocate for African-American studies. She began teaching in the two-room, segregated, K-8 Berlin Community School. Source: https://wednesdayswomen.com/dorothy-allen-conley-elam/
• Sarah Corson Downs (1822-1891). Downs was a teacher, supporter of women’s suffrage, and president of the New Jersey Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. Source; https://www.monmouthcountyvotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/County-Clerks-19th-Amendment-Booklet-Edition-I.pdf
• Dorothy Harrison Eustis (1886-1946). Eustis was a philanthropist and co-founder the nation’s first dog guide school, The Seeing Eye. She is in the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Source: https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/dorothy-harrison-eustis/
• Lillian Ford Feickert (1877-1945). Feickert was president of the New Jersey Women’s Suffrage Association from 1912 to 1920, an early president of the served as president of the New Jersey League of Women Voters, and vice-chairman of the New Jersey Republican Committee. In 1928, Feickert was defeated for United States Senate as a Prohibition candidate. Source: https://documents.alexanderstreet.com/d/1009638262
• Alberta Gonzalez (1914-1996). Gonzalez  was an advocate for New Jersey migrant farm workers and helped organize the first migrant workers strike in New Jersey. Source: https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/3522/
• Cornelia Hancock (1840-1927). Hancock was a nurse with the Union Army during the Civil War and served in the 1864 Virginia campaign. During Reconstruction, she established the Laing Normal and Industrial School in South Carolina for emancipated African Americans. Source: https://www.nps.gov/people/cornelia-hancock.htm
• Captain Joy Bright Hancock (1898-1986). Hancock served in World War I as yeoman and in the World War II WAVES. She was awarded the World War I Victory Medal ribbon and the Legion of Merit. She became the director of the WAVES in February 1946 and played an instrumental role in passage of the Women Armed Services Integration Act of 1948, which created a permanent place for women in the peacetime military. Source; https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/world-war-ii/world-war-ii-profiles/capt-joy-bright-hancock.html
• Mary Belle Harris (1874-1957). Harris was a prison rehabilitation pioneer as superintendent of women and deputy warden of the Workhouse on Blackwell’s Island (now Roosevelt Island) and the State Reformatory for Women in Clinton, New Jersey. Source: https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/harris-mary-belle-1874-1957
• Marie Louise Hunt Hilson Katzenbach (1882-1970). Katzenbach was one of the first women on the New Jersey State Board of Education, where she championed Special Education and Deaf Education and helped establish the state college system. Source: https://www.communitynews.org/news/commentary/ewing-then-and-now-a-life-spent-devoted-to-service/article_4da5a971-3d4f-53d4-a1a4-dd345aeadea7.html
• Eleanor Egg Krattiger (1909-1999).  Krattiger  became the “World’s Fastest Woman” when she defeated the Women’s National AAU Champion in a 100-yard dash in 1931. Source: https://www.westmilfordmessenger.com/news/local-news/eleanor-egg-krattiger-the-famous-track-and-field-star-who-lived-in-west-milford-FB2164025
• Elizabeth Cooper Moore (1920-2017). As a seventeen-year old, “Bette Cooper” was Miss America in 1937. She won in the evening gown category and was runner-up in “Most Popular and Charming Young Lady.”
• Mary T. Norton (1875-1959). As a Congressional Representative from 1925 to 1951, Norton was a reformer who fought for the labor and working-class interests. She was known as the “Battling Mary.” Source: https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/N/NORTON,-Mary-Teresa-(N000153)/
• Jeannette Ridlon Piccard (1895-1981). Piccard was a chemist. In 1934 she pioneered balloon trips into the stratosphere. Source: https://www.shipleyschool.org/2018-news-detail?pk=1207719
• Olive Mae Bond Polk (1894-1979). Polk was selected New Jersey Mother of the Year in 1967. She was the first African-American on the board of the Girl Scouts, a board member of the Elizabeth YWCA, and a charter member of the New Jersey branch of the Black National Association of College Women. Source: https://www.nj.com/union/2014/05/glimpse_of_history_states_mother_of_the_year_came_from_humble_beginnings.html
• Alice Huyler Ramsey (1886-1983). In 1909, at the age of 22, Ramsey became the first woman to drive across the United States. The trip took 59 days and covered 3,800 miles, mostly on dirt roads. She drove a four-cylinder, 30-horsepower Maxwell DA touring car. Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/alice-ramseys-historic-cross-country-drive-29114570/
• Charity Still (1775-1857). Still twice liberated herself from slavery. After her first self-liberation, she was recaptured with her four children, by slave-hunters, but she liberated herself a second time. She was the mother of abolitionist William Still. Source: https://kentakepage.com/charity-still-who-twice-liberated-herself-from-the-maafa/
• Clara Mae Taylor (1898-1988). Taylor was an Associate Professor of Nutrition at Teachers College, Columbia University and an author and advocate for better nutrition. Source: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/016146814704800805#con

Katharine E. White (1906-1985). White was Mayor of Red Bank from 1951 to 1956 and then was chairman of the New Jersey Highway Authority. From 1964 until 1968 she was United States Ambassador to Denmark. Source: https://dk.usembassy.gov/ambassador-katharine-elkus-white/