WO unveils marker celebrating Anna Easter Brown’s legacy

WEST ORANGE, NJ — The West Orange Public Library was awash in a sea of pink and green as members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority gathered to celebrate the unveiling of the historical marker dedicated to Anna Easter Brown, a West Orange native and one of the founding members of the organization, on Friday, Feb. 5, in front of the library.

The marker includes information about Brown, and also features a QR code that can be scanned using a smartphone to be linked to the township website for more information about Brown.

The Anna Easter Brown town marker is the first township marker to be erected in West Orange, and its presence is the result of many people within the township and the organization working together for it to come to fruition.

Brown graduated from St. Mark’s High School, a predecessor to West Orange High School, in 1897, and went on to continue her studies at Howard University, where she served as the chief evening librarian. She completed graduate studies at Columbia University, before relocating to Rocky Mount, N.C., where she spent nearly 40 years as a high school teacher. Brown was also recognized nationally for her African-American exhibits, and she was a founding member of the local Rocky Mount YWCA.

In addition to members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority from various area chapters, the event was attended by many local officials, including West Orange councilwomen Michelle Casalino and Susan McCartney, as well as Mayor Robert Parisi and New Jersey Assemblywoman Mila Jasey, who both spoke at the event.

Parisi noted that his daughter is away at school and joined a sorority, and this was his first experience of what that truly means.

“I didn’t realize until today the power of a sorority,” he said. “It says a lot about (Brown), being not only a young African-American, but also a woman, at a time when it was rare for either of those groups to go to college. We never know where life will take us, and I thank you for bringing this inspiring story about one of our own to us.”

Jasey, whose mother is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, presented the township proclamation to the organization’s international president, Dorothy Buckhanan Wilson, and stated that “moments like this are the ones that make this job more rewarding.”

“The timing of the marker couldn’t have been better, and we were able to get to know and be involved with so many people as a result of this,” Megan Brill, executive director of Downtown West Orange Alliance, said during the event. “I feel like I know Anna Easter Brown personally from working on this, and the Downtown West Orange Alliance is thrilled to be part of this celebration and making history once again.”

The event also included remarks from West Orange town historian Joseph Fagan and West Orange Library Director Dave Cubie, who both expressed their joy at being involved in such a historic event for both the township and the organization.

Fagan presented a public ledger that had been preserved from around the time that Brown had been alive.

“I felt compelled to retrieve something historical for this event,” Fagan said. “The only difference between success and failure is our desire to change something. I hope this marker will inspire others to learn her story, and that we are only limited by the boundaries that we set. Anna Easter Brown, welcome home.”

“I am the niece of 20th international president of Alpha Kappa Alpha, and she was very instrumental in my upbringing,” Williams said in a recent phone interview with the West Orange Chronicle. “I’ve been very much around the leadership capacity for much of my upbringing. I feel that it’s my responsibility to continue the legacy that they put under the organization.

“I was looking to do something monumental in our sorority,” she continued. “I wanted to make a long-lasting impact, not just ending with my generation, but making a lifelong impact — that was my motivation for starting this initiative.”

Inspired by the work of her relatives, Williams drafted a proposal and presented it to the Township Council members, who were enthusiastic about the idea.

“I felt like West Orange needed to recognize their own citizens,” she said. “I approached the Township Council in December 2015, and one council member suggested doing it for Black History Month, and the idea received unanimous support from all council members.”

From that point, Williams worked with West Orange officials and sorority women from the area to make the event and marker worthy of Brown’s legacy.

“We engaged area chapters and started working to make it become a reality. It’s really important to have the members to define who we are and what we are rather than the media doing that for us,” she said. “My job in West Orange is to get positive information out there, and in knowing the history of the organization it was natural to join them together.

It afforded me the opportunity to give good information about the town of West Orange, the good schools, the diverse community, and the fact that someone from here went on to found this amazing organization that currently has 283,000 members.”

Williams said that in addition to gaining the support of the township and the collaboration from other sorority members, she also had to check with the Historical Society of New Jersey about the parameters of setting up a marker, and work with the town about where the marker would be placed, but in all aspects the process was remarkably fluid.

“Fortunately, DWOA had been trying to do historical markers in the township, so our proposal was absolutely in line with something they already wanted to do and everything aligned for us,” she said. “When we talked about where it could be, we shared with the head librarian that we wanted it to be in front of the library because it is a prominent downtown location and (Brown) was a former librarian, and he agreed with us that there was no other place that it should be. By the grace of God, the town completely embraced the initiative and everything just worked together.”

Williams’ hope for the future is that when the town has more markers, people will be able to do a walking tour and get more information about persons and places of interest.

“I’ve never seen a QR code on a historical marker before, so this is absolutely innovative for the township,” she said.

Vonda Johnson, who also served on the Anna Easter Brown Committee, echoed Williams’ sentiments about what it means to have a historical town marker dedicated to one of her organization’s founders.

“I feel good that it happened, it’s good to know that not just because she is an Alpha Kappa Alpha, but just knowing the history of what was going on at that time and what she was able to accomplish,” Johnson said in a recent phone interview with the West Orange Chronicle. “If people know Essex County, they know that West Orange has always had a special touch with minorities, and I think it was awesome for her to be recognized. She has several markers in North Carolina, but nobody ever came back to where she was born to do it.”

Johnson, who wrote the inscription for the marker and also spoke at the event, serves as the president of the Rho Gamma Omega chapter, which serves the communities of Maplewood and the Oranges, and also oversees the undergraduate chapters at both Kean and Seton Hall universities.

“Tammy did a great job bringing in all of the chapters to take part in the event. We can always go back and reflect on it,” she said. “The highlight of the event for me was being able to touch the book that Joe Fagan presented, and know that one day, over 100 years ago, Anna Easter Brown touched that book, too.”

  Joseph Fagan