The Matriarchs & Founders
Gertrude Hargett
Born: May 19, 1934 in Newark, NJ
Gertrude was always smiling and laughing with her friends. She was a free spirit who LOVED life. She was an active member of the Civil Rights Movement and participated in the March on Washington. She graduated from Barringer High School in Newark, NJ where she met her husband Ernest. They married and had two children - Yael and Terrance.
Lillian Rahn
Born: August 10, 1917 in the British West Indies
Lillian Rahn had bright blue eyes and a short and curvy build. She was married and had her only child - Gertrude - when she was only thirteen. She was a housewife who could frequently be spotted looking out her window in her brownstone in New Jersey watching her neighbors go by.
Eula Scott
Born: October 20, 1925, Quitman, Georgia
Eula was the consummate strong, black, independent woman. With limited opportunities in Quitman, Georgia she followed her older sisters Calo and Wee to Philadelphia and then to Newark, NJ to find better work. She became a presser at a cleaning company making $1,040 a year, the equivalent of approximately $18,000 in 2020 dollars. She met her husband Leroy Scott in Newark,NJ and went on to marry him and have four children which she raised on her own; Joyce, Kelvin (Zuhairah's father), Vaughn and Stephanie. They lived in a two-room apartment that was immaculate. While they were poor in wealth, they were rich in love.
Willie Thomas
Born: Quitman, Georgia
Willie was married at the age of 13 and her mother was Cherokee Indian. As was customary during that time, she was a cook for a white family. She had an extremely strong work ethic and she took pride in the fact that she saved enough money after many years to buy land in Georgia which our family still owns today.
The mother-daughter team behind the mission.
Yael &
Zuhairah
