Our Matriarch

Dr. E. Alma Flagg was born September 16, 1918 in City Point, VA, to the late Hannibal Greene Williams and Caroline Moody Williams.  She and her family, which included a sister and three brothers, later settled in Newark, NJ.  Dr. Flagg is a graduate of Newark’s East Side High School where she became a member of the National Honor Society, served as class poet and was voted most likely to succeed.  She continued her education at Newark State College.  She earned her master’s degree at Montclair State College and the doctor’s degree from Columbia University. Her full-time teaching career began in Washington, DC but she returned to Newark, NJ in 1943 and taught and served as a school administrator in all wards of the city.  Throughout her career she has been a trailblazer.  In 1964 she was appointed principal of the integrated Hawkins Street School.  She became the first African-American woman to hold that distinction.  Her appointment as assistant superintendent in charge of curriculum services in 1967 was also a milestone.  In 1985 a new elementary school was dedicated and named for her. Dr. E. Alma Flagg passed away on March 10, 2018.