Walter Gilbert Alexander Archives

Trailblazer: Walter Gilbert Alexander

January 19, 2026 12:07 amJanuary 18, 2026 9:42 pm

Walter Gilbert Alexander (1880-1953), the son of former slaves, was the first Black to serve in the New Jersey State Assembly. A Republican, he was elected in 1920. Alexander was born in Virginia in 1880. He went to college at...

Trailblazer: Walter Gilbert Alexander

January 20, 2025 12:18 amJanuary 19, 2025 9:17 pm

Walter Gilbert Alexander (1880-1953), the son of former slaves, was the first Black to serve in the New Jersey State Assembly. A Republican, he was elected in 1920. Alexander was born in Virginia in 1880. He went to college at...

Trailblazer: Walter Gilbert Alexander

January 15, 2024 12:11 amJanuary 14, 2024 5:12 pm

Walter Gilbert Alexander (1880-1953), the son of former slaves, was the first Black to serve in the New Jersey State Assembly. A Republican, he was elected in 1920. Alexander was born in Virginia in 1880. He went to college at...

Trailblazer: Walter Gilbert Alexander

January 17, 2022 12:14 amJanuary 16, 2022 10:17 pm

Walter Gilbert Alexander (1880-1953), the son of former slaves, was the first Black to serve in the New Jersey State Assembly. A Republican, he was elected in 1920. Alexander was born in Virginia in 1880. He went to college at...

On Juneteenth, the New Jersey Globe remembers Walter Gilbert Alexander, Hutchins Inge and Remay Pearce

June 18, 2021 7:54 amJune 18, 2021 8:00 am

New Jerseyans observe Juneteenth today for the first time, with state offices closed and many state workers getting the day off. Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery. It was on June 19, 1865, that soldiers of the Union Army brought...

Trailblazer: Margaret Laird

February 9, 2021 12:11 amMarch 19, 2022 4:29 pm

Margaret B. Laird (1871-1968) became one of the first two women to be elected to the New Jersey Legislature when she was elected to a State Assembly seat representing Essex County in 1920. Republicans nominated Laird and Jennie C. Van...

Trailblazer: Walter Gilbert Alexander

January 18, 2021 12:17 amJanuary 17, 2021 11:30 pm

Walter Gilbert Alexander (1880-1953), the son of former slaves, was the first Black to serve in the New Jersey State Assembly. A Republican, he was elected in 1920. Alexander was born in Virginia in 1880. He went to college at...