African American Heritage Project

Project Description

In an effort to personalize African American Heritage to the staff and students of Montclair State University the African American Studies program in collaboration with the African American Caucus initiated a project of exploration into the family history of African Americans at the University. The research project celebrates the contributions of family members of Montclair's own African American students, staff and faculty members. People are asked to explore their own family heritage and share it with the rest of the MSU community.

We may have relatives in families who have made all types of contributions to their community and the country. We may also have people with interesting stories of family members who successfully transitioned from serving as slaves to creating a family of free men and women. Do Montclair families have connections to the Buffalo Soldiers of the Civil War, or the Tuskegee Airmen, or the Negro Baseball League just to mention a few? Are there firsts among Montclair families? The possible linkages are endless and very exciting and will created the ground for wonderful contributions to future African American heritage celebrations.

MSU Black Achievers

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Dr. E. Alma Flagg received her MA degree from Montclair State College in 1943. She received her B.S. fro Newark State College (now Kean University) and her Ed.D from Teacher College, Columbia University. She taught elementary in Washington, DC and New Jersey. She was the first African American female principal in Newark. She was appointed in 1964 – exactly 100 years after the first African American male principal was appointed to the Newark “colored school.” The E. Alma Flagg School in Newark is named in her honor. Dr. Flagg is also the author of three books of poetry, Twenty-one Poems, Feelings, Lines, Colors, and Twenty More with Thought and Feeling.

J. Thomas Flagg, the husband of E. Alma Flagg taught jr. high and elementary school. Later, he became a professor at Montclair State College. He was highly involved with the track program here. He secured on spot on the US Olympic team for track in the 1940s but was unable to participate because the games were cancelled.

Florence Holcombe Hampton, a member of the New Jersey State Normal School of Montclair, Class of 1928. She is Montclair State University’s oldest living black alum. She taught elementary and special education. She served as an adjunct professor at the college level. She was the alumni representative to MSU’s the Board of Trustees. She currently resides in Montclair, New Jersey.

Katherine Bell Banks, a member of the class of 1934. She was the first African American in Montclair State Teacher’s College residence halls in 1933. She taught at 2 historically black colleges in South and high school in New Jersey. She was dept. chair in the school where she taught in Newark. She was a Fulbright exchange teacher to France.

Frances Thornhill Morris was a member of the 1952 graduating class of College High School. She attended from 1946-1952 and was the first black student in College High School. During those years her father, a physician, was not allowed to practice at Mountainside Hospital. Ms. Morris became a financial analyst and tax office supervisor.

Karen Love, a dance major received her BFA from Montclair State in 1994. She received her master’s degree from NYU. She is the founder and Artistic Director of Umoja Dance Company. For approximately 10 years, Umoja Dance Company has been performing in many venues including NJPAC, Aaron Davis Hall, and schools, colleges and universities around the community and nation. The “mission is to educate, sustain and present dance as a communal and positive expression of life. Grounded in a spiritual and ancestral foundation that intersperses modern and West African dance forms, Umoja, the Kiswahili word for unity, seeks to incorporate all areas fo the African Diaspora.

Melba Moore, an MSU alumna, was the first African-American to take the leading roles in Hair and Les Misérables. She also performed in the Broadway musical Purlie. On March 16, 2000 the Baltimore City Paper referred to her as “Tony Award-winning diva…who has enjoyed a long and successful career in recording, film, TV, and on the stage.” She has numerous R&B hits and many of her songs have been recorded by other renowned artists. In 1998, Moore toured the United States in a one-woman autobiographical musical show, Sweet Songs of the Soul.

Phillip Thomas received his BA from Montclair State College in 1977. He is currently vice president for arts education at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

Lorenzo Pace is a distinguished artist and Director of the art galleries at Montclair State University. He holds the distinction of creating the sculpture chosen for placement at the African Burial Grounds in New York City.

Sharpe James, member of Montclair State’s class of 1958 was first elected mayor of Newark, NJ in 1986. Since that time, he has remained undefeated in mayoral elections. After Senator Wynona Lipman’s death, he was appointed to complete her Senate term.

Cardell Cooper was a member of Montclair State’s class of 1974. He served as mayor of East Orange, NJ. During his tenure as mayor, East Orange established a strong sister-relationship with Ghana in west Africa. The city supported several trips between New Jersey and Ghana.

Anton Wheeler, a graduate of Montclair State Univerity, currently works in the mayor’s office in the city of Newark. During his tenure at Montclair State University he was president of the Student Government Association and active in the Organization of Students for African Unity. He was featured in Ebony magazine as one of the 30 promising African American leaders.

Dr. Daniel Williams, a Montclair State University professor emeritus was a member of the psychology department for over 20 years. During the time he was at MSU, he wrote the University’s first Affirmative Action document. He also holds a diplomate in clinical psychology from the American Board of Psychological Examiners.

Dr. Jennifer Robinson, a professor in our College of Education and Human is the 2002 recipient of the AACTE Award for Best Practice in Support of Diversity in Teacher Education. Dr. Robinson is receiving her award today at a ceremony at the Hilton Hotel in NY City.

Highlights from MSU African American Heritage

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David Lewis - Father of Sandra Y. Lewis, Psy.D., Director of African American Studies and Faculty Member, Psychology Department

David Lewis with First Lady Rosalyn Carter
and CIS co-founder Bill Milliken at the White House

David Lewis was one of the original founders of the CIS-Communities In Schools (formerly Cities In Schools) movement. CIS is now the largest school dropout prevention and early intervention program with projects in schools and communities nationwide. The program serves thousands of young people and has become the model for similar programs in Europe.

In 1969, Mr. Lewis was one of a select group of postal workers who established the Postal Street Academies, the first prototype CIS programs. The Postal Street Academies were small alternative schools. David Lewis was one of the “street workers” who spent time canvassing the streets for young people who should be in school. Often finding them on local basketball courts, he played ball with them in order to build a rapport and introduce them to the program. In 1974, Mr. Lewis played a pivotal role in developing a partnership with Atlanta Public Schools, which resulted in certified teachers being assigned to CIS alternative schools and the initiation of early intervention programs housed within regular schools. In 1980, he helped to create Rich’s Academy, an innovative partnership among the Atlanta Public Schools, CIS, and Rich’s Department Stores. This academy served as an early model for school-business partnerships and alternative education programs. In 1987, Mr. Lewis started the EXODUS Players, consisting of students from CIS high school academies. These young people traveled the country, using drama and music to tell their very powerful and compelling stories. They performed in many venues including schools, fundraisers and the White House.

In 1991, Mr. Lewis was named one of the 25 most influential Black men in Atlanta. He is now a part of a permanent exhibit at the APEX Museum in Atlanta.

On April 21, 2001, David Lewis died after a long battle with stomach cancer. He spent nearly 30 years providing and building services for youth. His colleagues say he was “a great man” able to “reach the hardest kids within an hour of meeting them.” He leaves a powerful and lasting legacy. But perhaps one of his greatest accomplishments is that he lived up to his mother’s expectations “to be great…that’s why I named him David.”

Mary Lou Williams - Great Aunt of Sandra Y. Lewis, Psy.D., Director of African American Studies and Faculty Member, Psychology Department

"Mary Lou Williams is perpetually contemporary...a standard of quality that is timeless.
She is like soul on soul."
Duke Ellington

Mary Lou Williams was born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs on May 8, 1910 in Atlanta, Georgia. Like several of her Scruggs brothers and sisters, she took to the piano early in life. In her biography, Morning Glory by Linda Dahl, Mary Lou recalls her mother's amazement when at age 3 or 4 she played back exactly what her mother had just played. She notes, her mother must have been shocked because Ms. Ginny dropped Mary Lou and went screaming for people to come and hear Mary Lou play. Her brother Willis Scruggs recalls her legs were too short to reach the pedals of the organ so she'd have him get underneath and pump the pedals for her while she played.

Around age 7, Mary Lou her mother and family members moved to Pittsburgh where she became known as the "little piano girl." And as destiny would have it, Mary Lou grew to be one of the most influential people in jazz. She's known for her incomparable style playing everything from spirituals to blues to ragtime to bop to swing to boogie woogie and just straight up jazz. Her recordings reflect the history of jazz.

Early in her career she began a long association with Andy Kirk and the Twelve Clouds of Joy. She was the only woman in this band, serving as its chief arranger, a testament to the respect held for her musical acumen. During the 1930's, women instrumental soloist were rare and women composers and arrangers even more rare. She wrote and arranged for many of the greats including, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman. Notable recordings of her music include Zoning and The Zodiac Suite.

After her conversion to Catholicism in 1957, she founded the Bel Canto Foundation to help troubled musicians return to their art and she wrote several masses. In 1969, she wrote Music for Peace. In 1971, Alvin Ailey utilized portions of this mass to choreograph dances of praise which he called Mary Lou's Mass. She performed Mary Lou's Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, on February 18, 1975, the first jazz played during Mass at the New York cathedral.

During the last years of her life Mary Lou Williams was an artist-in-residence at Duke University. In her honor, Duke University now houses the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture. Another monument to her accomplishments is the Kennedy Center's Annual Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Concert held each May around the time of Mary Lou's birthday, May 8.

William Still, Station Master on the Underground Railrod - Ancestor of Eric Still, Montclair State University Student

William Still was born in New Jersey and spent most of his younger years working on his father's farm. He left the farm as a young adult, eventually settling in Philadelphia where he became a successful businessman and a Station Master on the Underground Railroad.

William Still is credited with having helped over 600 enslaved men, women, and children of African descent escape to freedom in Northern states. He is proclaimed as one of the greatest agents of the Underground Railroad. William Still kept detailed records of those he helped, though such records were a threat to his very existence. Nonetheless, Still persisted in his documentation of this very important slice of American history. Having taught himself to read and write, Still wrote a book, The Underground Railroad which was published in 1872. It provided detailed accounts of the experiences, struggles, and triumphs of those models of resistance who claimed their freedom through the Underground Railroad.

In his role as a Station Master, Still met a man named Peter who was looking for his family who were named "Steel." William discovered the Peter was his older brother. Their parents had changed their name from "Steel" to Still when they escaped. As a result of this personal encounter, Still realized his documentation could help many people find their relatives.

Still was an activist in other arenas as well. He worked to end unfair seating practices on Philadelphia's railroad cars. He also formed a group to collect, record and catalogue information on African Americans. He started a stove and coal business during the Civil War and later became a member of the Philadelphia Board of Trade. He started one of the first YMCA's for Black youth.

William Still was a truly remarkable man whose story stands as a testament to perseverance and commitment to humanity. His life and work make significant contributions to the annals of American and world history.