ESSEX COUNTY BOARD OF CHOSEN FREEHOLDERS
HALL OF RECORDS, ROOM 558
465 DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., BLVD.
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY 07102
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(973) 621-4486
(973) 621-5695 (FAX)
D. BILAL BEASLEY
LINDA LORDI CAVANAUGH
CAROL Y. CLARK
SAMUEL GONZALEZ
RUFUS I. JOHNSON
DONALD M. PAYNE, JR.
PATRICIA SEBOLD
RALPH R. CAPUTO, VICE PRESIDENT
BLONNIE R. WATSON, PRESIDENT
DEBRA MARVEL
DEPUTY CLERK OF THE BOARD
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 3, 2009
ESSEX COUNTY FREEHOLDERS CELEBRATE AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH
Freeholders Pay Tribute to Congressman Donald M. Payne,
N.J. Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells and Rutgers Professor Dr. Clement A. Price
(Newark, NJ) – The Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders held its Annual African-American History
Month Celebration on Friday, February 27th, in the Lobby at the Hall of Records. The highlight of the
program was the presentation of plaques and commendations to this year’s distinguished honorees: U. S.
Congressman Donald M. Payne (10th Cong. Dist.), N. J. Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells and
Rutgers-Newark Professor of History, Dr. Clement A. Price.
The event was a collaborative effort of the Freeholder Board and the Offices of the Essex County Register
of Deeds and Mortgages and County Clerk. The sponsors were Freeholder President Blonnie R. Watson
of Newark, Freeholder D. Bilal Beasley of Irvington, Freeholder Carol Y. Clark of East Orange, Freeholder
Donald M. Payne, Jr., of Newark, Freeholder Rufus I. Johnson of Newark, Register Carole A. Graves and
Deputy County Clerk Arthur L. Wright.
Donald M. Payne, a native of Newark, was elected to represent New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District
in 1988 as the state’s first African-American Congressman, and was re-elected to his 11th consecutive
term in November of 2008. Congressman Payne is the past Chairman of the Congressional Black
Caucus, is a member of the House Democratic Leadership Advisory Group, and formerly served on the
powerful Democratic Steering Committee. He is a member of the House Committee on Education and
Labor, where he serves on the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections and the Subcommittee on Early
Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education. He is also a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee,
where he serves as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, and as a member of the
subcommittees on the Western Hemisphere and International Organizations, Human Rights and
Oversight. In 2003 and 2005, President Bush appointed Congressman Payne to serve as a
Congressional delegate to the United Nations, and last year, Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed him to
serve on the House Democracy Assistance Commission. Prior to his service in Washington, D.C.,
Congressman was a teacher in the Newark Public Schools, and served on both the Newark Municipal
Council and the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders. He is a graduate of Seton Hall University,
the father of three, including Freeholder Donald M. Payne, Jr., the grandfather of four and the greatgrandfather of one.
(2)
Nina Mitchell Wells, Esq., of Livingston, was appointed as New Jersey’s 32nd Secretary of State by
Governor Jon S. Corzine in January of 2006. In her cabinet position, Secretary Wells is charged with
responsibility for the promotion and preservation of the arts, history and culture of the Garden State by
overseeing the Department of State’s agencies: Archives and Records Management; the NJ Historical
Commission; the NJ Council on the Arts; the NJ Cultural Trust; the NJ State Museum; the NJ Martin
Luther King, Jr., Commission; the NJ Commission on American Indian Affairs; the Governor’s Office of
Volunteerism; AmeriCorps; the Office of Faith Based Initiatives; the NJ Division of Travel and Tourism; the
NJ Israel Commission; the War Memorial and the Division of Elections. An attorney, Secretary Wells
graduated from Suffolk University Law School and began her legal career as Assistant Corporation
Counsel in the City of Newark’s Law Department, before going on to practice corporate law for NJ Bell
Telephone, Bell Communications Research, Inc., and the CIT Group. She was head of the Division of
Rate Counsel in the Department of Public Advocate under Governor Florio and was Assistant Dean and
Director of the Minority Student Program and Financial Aid at Rutgers Law School. Just prior to becoming
Secretary of State, she served as Vice President of Public Affairs for Schering-Plough Corporation and
President of its Foundation. Secretary Wells is married to attorney Ted Wells, and they are the proud
parents of two adult children, Teresa and Phillip.
Dr. Clement Alexander Price is a Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor History and
Director of the Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience at Rutgers University, Newark
Campus. He is widely recognized as the foremost authority on the history of New Jersey’s AfricanAmerican community by virtue of his Freedom Not Far Distant: A Documentary History of Afro-American in
New Jersey (1980), as well as the publication of countless other of his works, including: “New Jersey and
the Near Collapse of Civic Culture: Reflections on the Summer of 1967” (The Hall Institute of Public
Policy, NJ – 2007) and “Home and Hearth: The Black Town and Settlement Movement of Southern New
Jersey” (Small Towns, Black Lives: African American Communities in Southern New Jersey, Wendel A.
White – 2003), among so many others. As a leading public intellectual in New Jersey, he has been the
recipient of many awards for academic and community service, including a Lifetime Achievement Award
from Local Initiatives Support Corporation (2008); New Jersey Professor of the Year by the Council for
Advancement and Support of Education (1999); induction into the Rutgers University Hall of Distinguished
Alumni (2006); and in 2007, “The Once and Future Newark”. a documentary hosted by Dr. Price, was
honored by the Garden State Journalists Association as Video of the Year. He is a trustee of the Urban
Libraries Council and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, President of the Newark Public Schools
Foundation, and a Member of the Scholarly Advisory Committee to the National Museum of African
American History and Culture at the Smithsonian Institute. Most recently, he was agency lead for the
National Endowment for the Humanities on President Obama’s Transition Team. Dr. Price is married to
Mary Sue Sweeney Price, Director of the Newark Museum.
At the conclusion of the program, guests were invited to a Reception on the 5th Floor of the Hall of
Records.
Entertainment for the Celebration included musical performances by Hunter Hayes and a poetic
presentation by Dolores “Bobby” Reilly.
AfAm 09 Honorees: (l. to r.) Dr. Clement A. Price, NJ Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells and US
Congressman Donald M. Payne
AfAm 09 Honorees & Sponsors: (front row, l. to r.) Freeholder President Blonnie R. Watson, Register Carole
A. Graves, Dr. Clement A. Price, NJ Sec'y of State Nina Mitchell Wells, US Congressman Donald M. Payne,
Deputy County Clerk Arthur L. Wright and Freeholder Donald M. Payne, Jr.
(back row, l. to r.) Freeholder D. Bilal Beasley, Freeholder Carol Y. Clark, Freeholder Rufus I. Johnson
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For Additional Information:
Gary Kroessig, Public Information
Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders
973-621-4452
973-621-5696 (fax)
gkroessig@freeholders.essexcountynj.org