1970s
Erica Harrison
My name is Erica D.Harrison aka Ricky aka Ms.Erica. I was born and raised in Harlem New York.I will always cherish the sweet memories of going to the famous Apollo Theater as a child. I would see every artist from James Brown to the complete Motown Review...all for $.90! I always had an interest in the arts such as music, painting, dancing, singing, poetry and all things creative.My parents were from the South and they divorced when I was a toddler. I was raised by my mother but my father was always in my life. My mom was a Southern Belle with City Swag. She exposed me to the...
Darryl Rochester
After graduating from Weequahic High School in 1971, Darryl Wayne Rochester (March 27, 1953-December 8, 2020) studied dance under the tutelage of Kay Thompson Payne, co-owner of the then well-known Thompson Dance Studio of Newark. He became one of her star pupils. One evening Kay invited Darryl to accompany her to her dance class at the Dance Theater of Harlem in New York. The experience was very intimidating and he left there feeling somewhat inadequate and less confident in his ability as a dancer. Darryl had an urgent feeling to obtain additional training in dance from a highly...
Elizabeth Kaeton
The Reverend Dr. Elizabeth Kaeton first came to Newark in 1991 as Vicar of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church and Executive Director of St. Barnabas AIDS Resource Center. She also worked for Bishop Jack Spong as Canon Missioner to The Oasis, a ministry of the Diocese of Newark with LGBTQ people and their families. In 2008 she moved to Delaware but the City of Newark at her people will always hold a special place in her heart.Amina Baraka
Born Sylvia Robinson, born 1942, in Charlotte, North Carolina – multi-talented artist (dancer, actress, singer/poet, and political activist).Parents Ruth (garment worker) and James C Robinson were divorced when she was five. She was sent to her grandparents, Leona (domestic worker) and Patrick Bacote (construction worker). Sylvia grew up in Newark, New Jersey. She attended Arts High School where she majored in Art.
Sylvia early in life developed a love and respect for the working class and the labor union movement.
In 1960, Sylvia married Walter...
Walter Newkirk
Walter Newkirk owns Walter Newkirk Public Relations LLC. A graduate of Rutgers University in New Brunswick NJ, Mr. Newkirk was the first openly gay Arts Editor of The Rutgers Daily Targum, the daily newspaper on the New Brunswick campus from 1975-1976. As a college journalist he interviewed Pat Loud of the landmark PBS TV series An American Family, and the actor Divine for The Rutgers Targum.Mr. Newkirk was the Project Director of the film lecture series The Changing Stereotypes of Women Black and Gays in The Cinema, sponsored by Rutgers University and The New Jersey Committee...
Joseph Canarelli
Joseph Canarelli was born and lived in Newark from 1949 through the mid-70’s. A student at Rutgers Newark in the late 60’s – early 70’s, he feels fortunate to have been on campus—and come out—during a period of much political activism and cultural change. Along with a handful of other lesbians and gay male students, he co-founded RAGE (Rutgers Activists for Gay Education), the first glbtq group at the college. During this time, he also joined the Gay Liberation Front in New York City. He ultimately relocated to the New York where he lived for 30 years or so before moving to Seattle. A psycho-...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....
Carol Glassman
Carol Glassman was born in Brooklyn in 1942 to a first-generation large Jewish immigrant family. She went to public school and then Smith College, where she got involved with the student movement that became known as the New Left. Her activism eventually brought her to Newark, where she was a central member of the Newark Community Union Project (NCUP), part of the Students for a Democratic Society-led effort to organize in poor communities with the eventual goal of creating an “interracial movement of the poor.”In this oral history, she discusses coming into her lesbian identity...
Pucci Revlon
The Queer Newark Oral History Project mourns the passing of Miss Pucci Revlon, even as we celebrate and honor her life, which she lived fully and proudly as much-loved member of the LGBTQ Newark community. A true transgender pioneer who lived her truth with courage, Pucci participated in the legendary ballroom scene of the 1980s, worked as a nurse, and served as caretaker for generations of Newark youth, among numerous other accomplishments. While struggling with pancreatic cancer, she generously took the time to record several rounds of an oral history that provides invaluable...