Politics/Government
Donald Ransom
Since arriving in Newark in the early 1980s, Rev. Don Ransom has worked in the fields of substance abuse and recovery, as well as HIV prevention and education. A central figure in Newark AIDS activism, he was involved with James Credle and others in the pioneering Fire Ball programs of the early 1990s, a member of the city’s first HIV planning council, and remains active with NJCRI and other organizations. As well, he serves as senior reverend at the Unity Fellowship Church NewArk.In his oral history interviews, Rev. Ransom talks about queer Newark nightlife, AIDS activism, his...
Kiyan Williams
Kiyan Williams is a multidisciplinary artist from Newark, NJ who works fluidly across sculpture, performance, and video. Kiyan graduated from Science Park High School and went on to earn a BA with honors from Stanford University and an MFA in Visual Art from Columbia University. Their work has been exhibited at SculptureCenter, The Jewish Museum, Brooklyn Museum, and The Shed. They have given artist talks and lectures at The Guggenheim, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Princeton University, Stanford University, Virginia Commonwealth University Portland State University, and Pratt Institute....William Courson
Bill Courson was born and raised at the Jersey shore (his hometown is Avon by the Sea) and relocated to and has lived in Montclair, NJ since from 1978.A student at Brookdale and Monmouth Colleges in the the early 1970’s, he feels fortunate to have lived through and participated in a period of political activism and social and cultural ferment that witnessed the birth of the contemporary movement for LGBT equality. Along with a handful of other lesbians and gay male students, he co-founded the Gay Student Union, the first LGBTQ group at both colleges.
In 1986 he...
Albert Mrozik
Albert J. Mrozik Jr. (“Bert”) is a proud member of the LGBTQ community, who has been instrumental in the fight for LGBTQ rights in New York and New Jersey. A graduate of Columbia College, he received his law degree from the University of Denver. While there, he was mentored by Dean Robert Yegge, who was openly gay. During Bert’s education, he promised Dean Yegge that he would never compromise his identity as a proud gay man in his legal practice. He has kept his promise over the three decades he practiced as a lawyer in New Jersey’s Asbury Park and Newark. Throughout his life, Bert actively...Emma Wilcox
Emma Wilcox is the Gallery Director at Gallery Aferro, where, with co-founder Artistic Director Evonne Davis she has designed and implemented hundreds of exhibits, public programs, educational initiatives, public art projects as well as more than two dozen publications. Addressing barriers to full cultural participation by historically underserved populations has been an overriding concern throughout the gallery’s fifteen years of existence, during which time we have earned 5 consecutive citations of excellence from the NJSCA. Many of our efforts have been highly collaborative in nature...
Gail Malmgreen
Gail Malmgreen (b.1942) grew up mostly in Weequahic, where her parents were active in Left politics. After attending Swarthmore, the University of Rhode Island, Indiana University, and Columbia University, Gail held a variety of archival and academic appointments, including serving as associate editor of the Eugene V. Debs Papers, visiting lecturer at Harvard, and associate head for archival collections at New York University’s Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. She has published in labor history and women’s history, has spearheaded several oral history projects, and is the...Terri Suess
Terri was born and raised in Seattle, Wa. and has made Newark, NJ her home with her life partner. She studied communications at the University of Washington, Seattle and worked several years as a journalist in the Pacific Northwest. In the mid-70s, she moved to New York City to earn a Master’s Degree in Urban Affairs and public policy from City University of New York, Hunter College.
As a young person, she saw the power of community organizing in Seattle, when neighbors circulated petitions to stop freeways, marched against the Vietnam War, Saved the Pike Place Market and...
Bob Cartwright
Bob Cartwright’s introduction to Newark was in 1966, when he entered NJIT, which was then called Newark College of Engineering. He became radicalized because of the anti-war movement and the Civil Rights Movement. Later he was recruited to a position with the Urban Institute at Essex County College and then worked as a community organizer.
As a straight man involved in the Newark left, he worked closely with several important figures in local LGBTQ history who are no longer with us, and so in this interview he recounts Raymond Proctor, Derek Winans, and Frank Hutchins....
Czezre Adams
Czezre Tyrell Adams known to many as "Porkchop" was born on August 8, 1989 to Angenette Ellis-Harper and Alvin Adams. Raised on High Street, Czezre attended community schools such as Sherman Preschool, Quitman St, and Louise A. Spencer where he was in the Gifted and Talented program before moving to Franklin, NJ.After graduating high school, Czezre attended Virginia Union University and then Essex County College obtaining a degree in Social Sciences. While at Virgin Union University, Czezre was apart of the Constitution Committee, President of his dorm, and served as the 1st...