Trailblazer Archives - New Jersey Globe

Trailblazer: Assemblyman John S. Watson

January 18, 2021 12:30 amJanuary 17, 2021 10:03 pm

John S. Watson (1924-1996) was the first Black to win a countywide election in Mercer County when he was elected to the Board of Freeholders in 1970. He was the father of Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), the first Black...

Trailblazer: Justice Fabiana Pierre-Louis

January 18, 2021 12:30 amJanuary 17, 2021 9:49 pm

Fabiana Pierre-Louis is the first Black woman to serve on the New Jersey Supreme Court. Gov. Phil Murphy nominated Pierre-Louis as an Associate Justice of the state’s top court in 2020. She was unanimously confirmed by the Senate and replaced...

Trailblazer: Senator Ronald Rice

January 18, 2021 12:25 amJanuary 17, 2021 9:41 pm

Ronald L. Rice (D-Newark) is the longest-serving Black legislator in New Jersey history and has mad his mark as an advocate for social justice and civil rights. Rice was elected to the State Senate in a 1986 special election following...

Trailblazer: Sheriff Millie Scott

January 18, 2021 12:23 amJanuary 17, 2021 10:45 pm

Mildred Scott is the first Black woman to win election as a Sheriff in New Jersey. She was elected in 2010. Scott is a career law enforcement official. She was among the first women to graduate from the Middlesex County...

New Jersey was against Dr. King state holiday before it was for it

January 18, 2021 12:21 amJanuary 17, 2021 11:29 pm

The road to establishing a legal holiday honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in New Jersey was a slow one. During the final days of the 1974-75 legislative session, the Democratic-controlled State Senate rejected the idea of a...

Trailblazer: Arnold Cream, aka Jersey Joe Wolcott

January 18, 2021 12:21 amJanuary 18, 2021 11:04 am

Arnold Cream, known as famed heavyweight boxing champion Jersey Joe Wolcott, was the first Black to win election as a county Sheriff in New Jersey. Cream first ran for sheriff in 1968, but lost the Democratic primary to Spencer H....

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...