Walter Edge Archives - New Jersey Globe

Trailblazer: Thelma Parkinson Sharp

February 9, 2021 12:16 amFebruary 9, 2021 10:58 am

Thelma Parkinson Sharp (1898-1983) was the first woman to run for statewide office in New Jersey and the first woman to serve in the governor’s cabinet. At age 32, she is also the youngest person to ever win a statewide...

Trailblazer: Assistant U.S. Attorney Oliver Randolph

January 18, 2021 12:20 amJanuary 17, 2021 2:21 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...

The history of Malinowski’s congressional seat

November 23, 2020 12:01 amJanuary 3, 2021 1:51 pm

The re-election of Tom Malinowski marked the third time in more than 100 years that New Jersey’s 7th district elected and re-elected a Democrat. Before Malinowski unseated five-term Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton Township) in 2018, Republicans had held the 7th...

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

September 7, 2020 12:08 amSeptember 7, 2020 12:20 am

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 7, 2020 12:02 amSeptember 6, 2020 12:24 am

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: Joel Jacobson picked a public fight with Frank Sinatra

September 7, 2020 12:01 amSeptember 6, 2020 10:51 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...

Veteran: George Washington Goethals

May 25, 2020 12:05 amMay 24, 2020 8:34 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...