South Orange Resident Honored During County Black History Month Celebration
Stalks, Thigpen receive King leadership awards
Philip Thigpen and Larrie West Stalks, longtime South Orange resident, were the honorees during the county’s Black History Month celebration, which was held at the LeRoy Smith Public Safety Building, where Thigpen received the Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Award. Stalks, who broke barriers as both an African-American and a woman, was given the Coretta Scott King Award. Thigpen remembered when the highest position an African-American could hope to achieve in Essex County government was janitor at the Hall of Records. Thigpen recounted the county and city of his youth as he stood before an audience Monday that included Donald Payne Jr., the former president of the Newark Municipal Council who is now the second African-American from New…
