Walter Edge Archives - New Jersey Globe

Trailblazer: Assistant U.S. Attorney Oliver Randolph

January 16, 2023 12:08 amJanuary 15, 2023 11:43 pm

Oliver Randolph (1877-1951) was the only African American member of the 1947 New Jersey Constitutional Convention. In that post, he led a fight that successfully banned discrimination in New Jersey’s public schools and the National Guard. Born in Virginia, Randolph...

Labor Leader: Joel Jacobson picked a public fight with Frank Sinatra

September 5, 2022 12:15 amSeptember 8, 2022 3:47 pm

One of the great New Jersey fights of the 1970s was between labor leader Joel R. Jacobson (1918-1989) and Frank Sinatra. Sinatra and Dean Martin were playing blackjack before their performance at the Golden Nugget Casino in Atlantic City in...

Labor Leader: ex-Yankees pitcher later served as N.J. Commissioner of Labor

September 5, 2022 12:14 amSeptember 4, 2022 3:46 pm

Before Bill Bradley, there was Harry C. Harper. Known as “Hackensack Harry,” Harper spent ten seasons as a major league baseball pitcher. The big left-hander was the starting pitcher for the New York Yankees game six of the 1921 World...

Labor Leader: Vincent J. Murphy was NJ AFL-CIO president, two-term Mayor of Newark

September 5, 2022 12:10 amSeptember 4, 2022 4:08 pm

One of the most influential labor leaders in New Jersey history was Vincent J. Murphy (1893-1976), who spent nine years as the president of the New Jersey AFL-CIO after two terms as the Mayor of Newark. He was the Democratic...

Labor Leader: Lewis Bryant was the first N.J. Commissioner of Labor

September 5, 2022 12:00 amSeptember 4, 2022 3:32 pm

Lewis T. Bryant was New Jersey’s first Commissioner of Labor. After the New Jersey Legislature created the Department of Labor in 1904 – the predecessor position was Inspector of Factories and Workshops — Gov. Franklin Murphy nominated Bryant to fill...

Veteran: George Washington Goethals

May 30, 2022 12:00 amMay 29, 2022 6:14 pm

One New Jersey war veteran whose legacy remains intact after more than a century was Major Genera George Washington Goethals, the namesake of the Goethals Bridge. Goethals was an 1880 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and...

Trailblazer: Assistant U.S. Attorney Oliver Randolph

January 17, 2022 12:04 amJanuary 16, 2022 4:47 pm

Oliver Randolph (1877-1951) was the only African American member of the 1947 New Jersey Constitutional Convention. In that post, he led a fight that successfully banned discrimination in New Jersey’s public schools and the National Guard. Born in Virginia, Randolph...