Lange, Dorothea (b. May 26,1895; d. Oct. 13,1965). Photographer. The daughter of Henry Nutzhorn and Joan Lange, Dorothea Lange was born in Hoboken and grew up there and in Weehawken and Highwood. At age seven she contracted polio, which left her with a permanent limp. Her father abandoned the family when she was twelve. Renowned through her photographs (1935-1939) for the Resettlement Administration and the Farm Security Administration, Lange’s Migrant Mother, Ni-pomo, California, 1936, an unforgettable Great Depression icon, appeared on a 1999 U.S. postage stamp. Lange’s book American Exodus (1939), with text by her second husband, sociologist Paul Schuster Taylor, was about migrant workers in California and is considered a classic in its genre. Lange returned to New Jersey to photograph migrant berry pickers and Jersey Homesteads (later Roosevelt) in 1936. The Library of Congress and Oakland Museum are major repositories of her work.
Lappawinso and Tishcohan (fl. eighteenth century). Lenape leaders. Lap-pawinso and Tishcohan, brothers, were elders of the Toms River band of Lenape, the native peoples of southern New Jersey. By 1733 they were making extended hunting trips across the Delaware River. In 1734 they sold their land rights in the Toms River area, and soon after took up permanent residence in the Forks of Delaware in Pennsylvania. There, in 1737, they participated in an irregular land transfer known as the "Walking Purchase,” in which several natives from New Jersey sold lands in Pennsylvania. This notorious deal involved sale of land without clear Indian title, staked out by runners (rather than walkers). In the course of their dealings with the Pennsylvania government the brothers frequently visited Philadelphia. William Penn commissioned portraits of both to be painted by Gus-tavus Hesselius, the foremost artist of the region. The Penn family donated these paintings, providing valuable records of native life, in the mid-nineteenth century to the Penn Historical Society.
Paul S. Taylor, Dorothea Lange in Texas on the Plains, c. 1937.
Larison, Cornelius Wilson (b. Jan. 10,1837; d. Apr. 15,1910). Physician, writer, educator, and reformer. Cornelius Wilson Larison was a resident of Ringoes, and a man of many interests. He is best known as an advocate of spelling reform, and he produced books, pamphlets, and magazines written in a simplified phonetic spelling of his own devising. Among his twenty-four books, for example, were A List of Wurdz Hwich Ar Not Alwaz Pronunst in the Sam Wa and Speling-Reform Jemz. Larison received an M.D. from Geneva (New York) Medical College in 1863. As a physician (or as he spelled it, "fysician”), he advocated health reforms and published a short-lived Jurnel of Helth. He had strong views on education, and was the principal and chief instructor of a private school, the Ringoes Academy of Science and Art, at which he presented his own unorthodox ideas about science and society. The quintessential eccentric, Larison lived a long and happy life pursuing his various enthusiasms.
Larson, Emil J. (b. 1878; d. 1971). Glassblower. Emil J. Larson and his family came to White Mills, Pennsylvania, from Sweden. His father worked as a glassblower for C. Dorflinger and Sons, and Emil and his brothers were apprenticed there. Larson, a gifted blower, stayed until Dorflinger closed in 1920. From 1920 to 1923, he was chief gaffer at H. P. Sinclaire and Company in Bath, New York. Larson then moved to New York City to work for the Quezal Art Glass and Decorating Company. When it closed, he became gaffer in Victor Durand’s art glass shop in Vineland, where he remained until it closed in 1931. He operated his own glassblowing shop in Vineland until his retirement in the mid-1940s.
Larson, Morgan Foster (b. June 15, 1882; d. Mar. 21, 1961). Governor and engineer. Morgan Foster Larson was born in Perth Amboy, the son of Peter Larson and Regina Knudson Larson. His father emigrated from Denmark as a young man, and worked as a blacksmith. Larson graduated from Cooper Union Institute with a degree in engineering in 1907, after years of working all day in Perth Amboy and commuting to New York City for night classes. In 1914 he married Jennie Brogger; after her death and while governor, he married Adda Schmidt. After two of his brothers were killed in an accident in 1921 he helped raise and educate their seven children.
From 1907 to 1924 Larson worked as a county and city engineer. In 1921 he entered politics and, although a Republican in strongly Democratic Middlesex County, was elected a state senator. There he quickly rose to become majority leader and then president of the senate.
Larson entered politics in the 1920s just as use of automobiles became increasingly common and as New Jersey residents began to use them to commute from suburbs to their jobs on roads that were inadequate for this new purpose. That, and his civil engineering background, gave him an interest in transportation, which in turn contributed to his increasing political success. Larson joined with others in the New Jersey senate to push for construction of the George Washington Bridge to Manhattan, the Outerbridge Crossing and Goethals bridges to Staten Island, and, in 1927, passage of a law creating a state highway system. Popular with fellow Republicans in the Senate and in Middlesex County, and pictured as a "regular guy” in the press, Larson became a candidate for governor in 1929. His bid for office was helped in the primary election when Frank Hague, the enormously influential Democratic boss of Hudson County, urged Democrats to cross party lines and vote for Larson on the assumption he would be the easier Republican to beat in the fall election. Initially emphasizing improvements in the state’s water supply and in transportation as campaign issues, Larson later turned to Hague’s power and political corruption as the major concerns. Voters responded and elected him by a significant margin of 152,277 votes.
Unfortunately Larson came to office as the Great Depression hit New Jersey with increasing force. A conservative Republican in the Herbert Hoover mold, he was unprepared to deal with this disaster and often unable to work with politicians in the New Jersey legislature despite having served in the senate. He blundered over patronage appointments, losing political capital with fellow Republicans. His one success was in dealing with New York State on the proposal to build the Lincoln Tunnel. Larson’s was a frustrating and generally unproductive governorship, which put an end to his political career. In the years that followed he worked as an engineer with the Port Authority, the state Department of Conservation, and the state Water Policy and Supply Council, but never again held elective office. Larson died at seventy-eight in Perth Amboy.
Latifah, Queen (b. Mar. 18,1970). Singer, actor, and talk show host. Born Dana Owens in Newark, Queen Latifah later lived in Irvington, East Orange, and Wayne. Her stage name is derived from an Arabic word meaning delicate and sensitive. One of the hip-hop world’s most charismatic and positive-minded artists, her biggest accomplishment as a rapper was helping to introduce a feminist viewpoint into a traditionally male-dominated genre. Her 1989 debut album All Hail the Queen (featuring the hit single "Ladies First”) made her a star, but her biggest hit was "U.N.I.T.Y.,” from 1993′s Black Reign. The song won a Grammy for best solo rap performance. As an actor, she appeared in the sitcom Living Single and the movies Set It Off, Jungle Fever, Living Out Loud, Juice, and BringingDown the House. Perhaps because of her rap career, she is often typecast as an outspoken, assertive character. Through Flavor Unit, her Jersey City-based record and management company, she has championed artists like East Orange’s Naughty By Nature, Jersey City’s Apache, and Newark’s Lords of the Underground. Her syndicated talk show, The Queen Latifah Show, debuted in 1999. Through it, she gave artists valuable television exposure and explored a variety of issues, both humorous and serious. After the cancellation of her talk show in 2001, Queen Latifah returned to acting, garnering Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actress for her 2002 role in Chicago.
Latinas/os. Having left their home countries for a variety of political and economic reasons, Latinos have made many contributions to New Jersey’s economy and culture and created vibrant communities. According to the 1920 census, 462 people born in Mexico, 360 born in Puerto Rico, and 862 born in Central and South American countries lived in the state. By 1950, those populations had grown to 5,640 Puerto Ricans, 598 Mexicans, and 5,149 people from Central and South American countries. Today, Latinos represent a rapidly growing and increasingly diverse group in New Jersey.
During and after World War II, many Puerto Ricans were recruited through contract labor programs run by the governments of the United States and Puerto Rico. During the war, Puerto Ricans came to New Jersey to work in the food-processing industry with employers such as the Campbell Soup Company in Camden. After the war, they were hired for seasonal farmwork, including jobs at the Glassboro farm labor camp. As U.S. citizens, Puerto Ricans could remain on the mainland at the end of their contracts. Others came looking for work without contracts. Many women worked in the garment industry, while men worked in hotels, restaurants, and manufacturing. Some opened small grocery stores and restaurants.
By 1970,138,896 Puerto Ricans lived in New Jersey, with 27,663 in Newark, 16,325 in Jersey City, 12,036 in Paterson, and 10,047 in Hoboken. In Newark, Puerto Ricans participated in Catholic and Protestant religious activities; community-based organizations such as Aspira, Inc. of New Jersey and the Field Orientation Center for Under-Privileged Spanish (FOCUS); electoral and radical politics, such as the Young Lords; and community events, such as the Puerto Rican Parade. Puerto Rican communities also emerged in Camden, Perth Amboy, Vineland, Dover, and elsewhere.
Cuban immigration increased after the Cuban Revolution in 1959. The 1961 Cuban Refugee Program brought many Cubans to Union City and West New York, where industrial jobs were available. Others joined family and friends. By 1980, 80,860 Cubans lived in New Jersey, the second largest community after Florida’s. Hudson County had 45,719 Cuban residents, with 17,661 in Union City and 15,320 in West New York. In Hudson County, 44 percent of Cuban men and women worked in manufacturing jobs.
By 1977, there were 705 Cuban-owned businesses in the state, including retail and trade services, clothing stores, beauty parlors, supermarkets, travel agencies, funeral homes, restaurants, and small markets. Cuban-owned manufacturing firms were primarily garment shops that employed Cuban women. As early as 1968, Cubans in West New York were active in the Catholic Church; some had joined a religious organization, a Cuban political organization, a parent-teacher association, or a Democratic or Republican club. In electoral politics, Robert Menendez, born in New York City and raised in Union City, served as mayor of Union City and was elected as a Democrat first to the New Jersey state legislature and then, in 1992, to the U.S. Congress.
According to the 2000 census, New Jersey’s Latino population numbered 1,117,191, an increase of about 55 percent since 1990. Puerto Ricans, still the largest group, accounted for 366,788 of the total, and there were 77,337 Cubans. Yet the Latino population had become more diverse, with the Mexican population increasing dramatically to 102,929 and "other” Latinos to 570,137, a figure that includes immigrants from the Dominican Republic as well as Central and South American countries.
Laurel Springs. 0.5-mile-borough in central Camden County. A milling industry began here in the early eighteenth century on the banks of the Timber Creek, and in 1840 a gristmill and sawmill passed to Ephraim Tomlinson III, a descendant of an early settler. The small community that grew up around the mills was named "Laurel Mills,” for the predominant vegetation. The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad erected a station near the community soon after 1883; Laurel Lake and nearby Crystal Springs made the area a popular family-oriented resort. Believed to have therapeutic value, the spring was often visited by Walt Whitman in an attempt to cure his rheumatism. Here he wrote portions of Specimen Days, extolling the beauty of the lake and its environs, and revised Leaves of Grass. Advertisements extolling the scenic countryside stimulated real estate development. Renamed Laurel Springs for the lake and healing spring waters in 1889, the community separated from Clementon Township and incorporated as a borough in 1913.
In 1997 the state planning commission ranked Laurel Springs 32d among the state’s 100 most distressed towns, based on eight socioeconomic indicators, a ranking disputed by borough officials. The 2000 population was 1,970 and 94 percent white. The median household income in 2000 was $52,500. For complete census figures, see chart, 133.
Lautenberg, Frank R. (b. Jan. 23,1924). Businessman and U.S. senator. The son of immigrants, Frank R. Lautenberg was born in Paterson and attended Nutley High School. Upon graduating, he enlisted in the Army Signal Corp and served during World War II. After his tour of duty, Lautenberg took advantage of the GI Bill and graduated from Columbia University in 1949, earning a degree in economics. In the early 1950s Lautenberg and two others founded Automatic Data Processing (ADP). At ADP, Lautenberg served as president from 1969 to 1975, and as chairman and CEO from 1975 until 1982. Prior to holding elected office, Lautenberg’s public service included appointments to the boards of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. In 1982 Lautenberg successfully ran for U.S. Senate, upsetting Republican Millicent Fenwick, thus becoming New Jersey’s first Jewish senator. Lautenberg was reelected in 1988, defeating Peter M. Dawkins, and again in 1994, when he narrowly defeated former Speaker of the New Jersey Assembly Garabed Haytaian. In 1999 he announced that he would not seek a fourth term and that he would retire from politics. In 2002, however, Lautenberg agreed to replace scandal-plagued Democratic U.S. Senator Robert Torricelli on the ballot one month prior to the November election. Lautenberg won, and returned to the Senate in 2003.
Lavallette. 0.65-square-mile borough located in Ocean County. Lavallette was founded in 1878 and incorporated December 19, 1887, splitting off from Dover Township. An 1880s development known as St. Elmo (Westmount) was incorporated into the borough in 1976.
Directors of the Barnegat Land Improvement Company developed "Lavallette City by the Sea,” named after company secretary A.T. Lavallette’s illustrious father, Adm. Elie La Vallette, commander of the U.S.S. Constitution. The development was initially accessible only by water. The railroad arrived in 1881, a road from Bay Head in 1911, and a bridge across the bay at Seaside Heights in 1914. As access became easier, the population grew. The population of approximately 200 in 1920 increased as the borough changed to become largely year-round. Lavallette benefited from its location on both the bay and ocean, as a resort community attracting tourists and also supporting a thriving fishing industry (the fish pounds were part of the Chadwick Fisheries) and boat building, including the classic skiffs built by Charles M. Hankins. The 2000 population of 2,665 was 98 percent white. The 2000 median household income was $43,846.
Law. Law in New Jersey shares a number of attributes with law in other U.S. states, but it also has many unique characteristics. New Jersey law has its earliest origins in English law, transplanted to what is now New Jersey according to the terms of royal grants issued to the colonial proprietors. Beginning in 1664, the Proprietors of New Jersey, and then the separate colonies of East and West Jersey, issued a number of "concessions” and constitutions that provided for elected legislatures, with power to enact laws "agreeable” to English law. By 1703 East and West Jersey were rejoined under royal rule, and governed by royal instructions to the governor of the province. The Queen’s Instructions of 1702 authorized a general assembly for lawmaking, and formed the basis for New Jersey law until independence. In 1776 a committee of New Jersey’s Provincial Congress drafted a constitution for the state that was adopted on July 2, 1776. This constitution, together with those of 1844 and 1947, form the basis for New Jersey law today. The 1776 constitution stipulated that previous colonial laws would continue in effect until revised or replaced. In the 1790s William Paterson codified the old statutes, and when completed his work was adopted by the legislature.
At the local level, municipal and county governments enact legislative law through the passage of ordinances. Local governments do not have any power to legislate other than that delegated to them by the state legislature. In other words, there is no constitutional home rule for local government in New Jersey, although there is a strong political culture of home rule whereby the legislature tries in most cases to respect local government discretion. Areas such as zoning, parking, certain environmental controls, and trash removal are examples for which local governments legislate by enacting ordinances authorized by their delegated legislative powers.
The New Jersey legislature remained the dominant branch of government under the 1776 state constitution—more so than in most other states—even having the power to appoint the governor. Under the 1844 constitution it retained its dominance, appointing most other officials as well as passing laws with very little in the way of limitation. In 1947, the constitution brought the executive and judicial branches to more equal status, but the legislature retained its broad lawmaking power. Legislative law, referred to as statutes, originates as bills, and must pass both the General Assembly and State Senate and be signed by the governor.
Judicial law refers to the binding effect of decisions made by the courts, particularly appeals courts. New Jersey’s court system is generally considered to be among the best in the nation based upon its organization, unified management, and quality of its judges. This reputation has grown since the adoption of the 1947 state constitution, one of the most important features of which was a newly designed court system. Judicial decisions not only settle the dispute before the court, but serve as precedent in future cases. The New Jersey courts have authority to make common-law decisions, which are based on earlier judicial precedent in areas where there is no applicable statute. These decisions have the force of law, but can be changed by the legislature if it disagrees with them. The New Jersey Supreme Court has been a leader in innovative common-law decisions since the 1950s. For example, the court was a leader in liberalizing the tort law rules by which persons recover financially from injuries or death from accidents and defective products. State courts also engage in interpretation of state and federal statutes and local ordinances. These authoritative interpretations have binding legal effect, but, as in the case of common law, can be changed by the legislature through a contradictory statutory amendment if it disagrees.
New Jersey courts also interpret the state and federal constitutions in cases where they are said to apply. These interpretations are also binding and have the force of law but, in contrast to judicial decisions on common-law and statutory interpretation, ordinarily cannot be changed by the legislature through statutory enactment. Judicial interpretations of the state constitution may, however, be changed by amending it through a process of proposed amendments and voter ratification. This has been quite rare in New Jersey.
The New Jersey Supreme Court’s interpretations of the state constitution, often recognizing constitutional rights that are more protective than federal constitutional rights enforced by the U.S. Supreme Court, have served as models throughout the country. This movement, with its origins in the 1970s, is referred to as the New Judicial Federalism. Examples of areas in which the supreme court has recognized state constitutional rights beyond the federal constitutional minimum standards are school finance, free speech, abortion rights, low-income housing rights, and rights of criminal defendants. In New Jersey the state constitution authorizes the supreme court, rather than the legislature, to adopt rules of procedure for lawsuits in the courts, including such important matters as class actions, as well as rules for the licensing and discipline of lawyers. These rules have the force of law.
The New Jersey governor, considered the most powerful state executive in the nation, is the only official elected statewide and possesses extensive appointment and veto power. The governor can issue executive orders, covering a very wide range of topics. New Jersey governors have made extensive use of this power. If these orders arise from the governor’s authority contained either in the New Jersey constitution or in statutes passed by the legislature, they have the force of law. Executive orders, however, may not conflict either with statutes passed by the legislature or with interpretations of statutes or common-law decisions rendered by the courts.
Administrative agencies at the state level are created by statutes that often empower the agency to promulgate rules or regulations to further implement the statute’s purpose or the agency’s mission. This is referred to as delegated legislative authority. When a New Jersey agency adopts rules or regulations according to the required procedure, and within the scope of the delegated authority contained in the statute, they have the force of law. For example, environmental regulations issued by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) are binding if they were adopted according to the prescribed procedure and relate to an area the legislature has delegated to the DEP to regulate.
Law in New Jersey may emanate from different levels of government (local, state, or federal) and from the different branches of government in varying forms: legislative statutes, judicial decisions and rules, executive orders, and administrative regulations. These differing forms of law, with their origins in different levels of government, provide a complex hierarchy of binding legal rules applicable in the state.
Lawnside. 1.4-square-mile borough in Camden County. The exact origins of the community are not clear, but people of African descent settled the area as early as the 1700s. As abolitionism spread in the region, free blacks and escaped slaves settled in the community. Reportedly the community was associated with the Underground Railroad, the clandestine network that led slaves to freedom. The settlement was usually called Snow Hill, although Free Haven was sometimes used. Forty-six local men joined the Union forces during the Civil War. Residents operated numerous businesses and fraternal orders and lodges. As the twentieth century dawned, the community had its own elementary school, sent representatives to Centre Township council, and supported three churches. The name Lawnside was adopted in 1907. Incorporated from remnants of Centre Township and parts of Barrington Borough on March 24,1926, Lawnside is the only African American municipality organized as such in New Jersey and the northeastern United States. The borough is dominated by single-family homes with a median value of $82,900. The population in 2000 was 2,692; 94 percent of the residents were black. The median household income in 2000 was $45,192.
Postcard of Lawn side with a photograph of an early twentieth-century automobile.
