CZECHOSLOVAK FESTIVAL...
My grandmother, Ethel Novak, was from Newark, New Jersey where she spent many of her childhood years and raised her family. Before the Newark riots of 1967, Newark had a very ethnically diverse population. Czechs and Slovaks made up a percentage of that population. These are some pictures of my grandmother (on the right) and her sister, Dorothy, in the November 19, 1944 issue of the Newark Sunday Call. They are both wearing traditional Czechoslovak dresses and jewelry and were singing at a Czechoslovak festival in Newark (both were trained singers who recorded a song with deceased jazz legend, Joe Williams. He even invited my grandmother to audition for his band as a singer but she never auditioned, sadly). The headline reads, "Singing Sisters Cheer Newark Czechoslovaks".
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| Cover of the November 19, 1944 issue of the Newark Sunday Call |
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| A close-up with my great Aunt Dottie (Dorothy) on the left and my grandmother on the right |
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| My grandmother, Ethel Novak, who was Czech, Slovak and Hungarian |
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