Englewood Makes History

Browse Items (28 total)

  • 41 Years in the Englewood Schools.jpg

    A newspaper article covers a lecture from Leroy McCloud. The article covers McCloud's experience in the Englewood school system, especially the racial divide. McCloud described his struggle to get equal support for Dwight Morrow which was and still is primarily attended by black students. McCloud believed that the fight to desegregate schools by merging Tenafly and Englewood Cliffs should have been dropped, as it was taking money away from supporting students. McCloud also feared for the future of education.
  • Arnold Brown.png

    Arnold Brown was born on April 12, 1932, in Englewood, Brown's family had deep roots in New Jersey and Englewood. Brown grew up in the 4th ward and attended Lincoln Elementary and 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.

    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 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. 
  • Alexander Jackson to W.E.B. DuBois, March 1, 1926.pdf

    Arthur L. Jackson wrote to W.E.B. DuBois about the Brooklyn Oder Boys Conference in Englewood in 1926. Jackson requested DuBois give a speech at another meeting to convince African American high school boys to continue their education.
  • Bethune.jpg

    Mary Jane Mcleod Bethune was an influential African American educator, civil rights activist, and women's rights activist.

    Bethune was born July 10, 1875 in South Carolina. She was the daughter of Samuel and Patsy Mcleod who were previously enslaved.

    She married Albertus Bethune in 1899. She also had a son. Her marriage with Albertus ended in 1904. That same year she opened the Daytona Beach Literary and Industrial School for Training Negro Girls. The school evolved into a college, merging with the Cookman Institute forming the Bethune-Cookman College in 1929.

    Bethune was heavily involved in activism, including the Women's Suffrage Movement. She was elected the president of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs in 1924 and she was the founding president of the National Council of Negro Women in 1935. 

    Bethune was friends with Eleanor Roosevelt and was the highest-ranking African-American woman in the United States government when Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed her director of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration in 1936. A position she remained in until 1944. 

    In 1940 she became the vice-president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She was also the only black woman at the founding conference of the United Nations in 1945.
  • IMG_6844.jpeg

    The Community Baptist Church was founded in 1932. The parishioners are majority African American. Under Reverand Joseph M. Wilson two plots of land were purchased to build a new church in the 1940s. In 1949, a cornerstone for the new church was laid. From the 1970s to the 1990s, Reverand Clarence Kenner improved the facilities. In the 1990s, Reverand Lester W. Taylor Jr. started a motion to create a new facility. Construction on the new church began in June 2008 and was finished in 2011.
  • Crowded, Cold, Dark, And Rotted, Misery Mile Is No Reality Bargain.jpg

    The newspaper article "Crowded, Cold, Dark, And Rotted, Misery Mile Is No Reality Bargain" discusses the situation in Misery Mile. Frank Sherry, the writer describes the poor living conditions and extreme poverty the residents of the area experience.
  • Ethel McGhee Davis.jpg

    Ethel Davis McGhee was an American social worker and educator. She was the first African American social worker in Englewood, New Jersey when she became the Director of Social Work at the Social Service Federation for Englewood's African American community in 1925. She worked for the Social Service Federation's Memorial House, which was eventually named the Englewood Community House.

    In the 1930s, Davis worked at Spelman College, where she acted as Dean of Women and taught sociology. She was the school's first African American administrator.

    Davis was heavily involved in numerous organizations such as the Young Woman's Christian Association (YWCA), the National Council of Jewish Women, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Urban League, the League of Women Voters, and the National Council of Negro Women.

    She traveled back to Englewood in 1954 and remained active in the community. She was involved in numerous organizations in Englewood including the Social Service Federation, the Urban League, the Leonard Johnson Nursery School, the Community Chest, the First Baptist Church of Englewood, and the Adult Advisory Committee.

    She married John Warren Davis, President of West Virginia State College on September 2, 1932. She had two daughters, Caroline Florence Davis Gleiter and Dorothy Davis McDaniel.
  • John W Davis.png

    John Warren Davis was an educator and civil rights leader. He was president of West Virginia State University from 1919 to 1953. While in this position, Davis led the college to become fully accredited, making the institution one of the four black colleges and the first public college in West Virginia to become accredited. He also created the State 4-H Camp, the Civilian Pilot Training Program, and the Army Specialized Training Program. 

    Davis was also one of the founders of the first NAACP chapter in Atlanta, Georgia. He also established the NAACP's legal defense fund to desegregate colleges and provide black students with scholarships. He was also involved with the National Urban League and was the president of the Englewood Chapter. Other organizations he was involved with included the National Advisory Committee on Education of Negros, the National Advisory Committee on Education, the National Science Board, the National Science Foundation, and the National Education Association. He commonly hosted civil rights leaders in his home along with his wife, Ethel. 

    He was married Bessie Rucker Davis in 1916 until she died in 1931. He married Ethel McGhee in 1932. He had three children, Constance Davis Welch, Dorothy Davis McDaniel, and Caroline Davis Gleiter.
  • Englewood Still Spilt on Schools.jpg

    The article "Englewood Still Split on Schools" describes how a turbulent racial history in Englewood affects the high schools in the town. Despite Dwight Morrow and the Academies at Englewood having the same campus, the article claims they are treated as separate schools. There was frustration from some due to their view that the students at the Academies were treated better. Race becomes a part of the discussion as Dwight Morrow is majorly attended by black and Latinx youth while the Academies are attended by white and Asian-American students. The article also discusses efforts to integrate the schools and whether the efforts made to combine the schools would truly desegregate the students.
  • For churches, a day of song, prayer, and remembrance.jpg

    A newspaper article that describes the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. in multiple churches in Englewood and Passaic including Ebenezer Baptist Church.
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