Ferdinand Wardell Gratz Fenderson

Ferdinand Wardell Gratz Fenderson was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on January 27, 1886, at 17 Eaton Street to David Fenderson, a blacksmith, and Alice Brookfield.¹ His mother is presumed to have died before the 1890 census as David Fenderson reported then that he was widowed.² According to his Yale College Tuition Scholarship, his father was disabled and applied for tuition aid.³

Fenderson received his high school education at New Haven High School (now James Hillhouse High School). He attended Yale College from 1905 to 1907 but transferred to Wesleyan University where he graduated in 1911 with a bachelor of arts degree in history and German.⁴ He then enrolled in the Yale Graduate School during the 1911-1912 academic year, studying history. He received a master’s degree from Yale in 1912.⁵

According to the historian Walter D. Greason, Fenderson became principal of the Court Street School, a segregated New Jersey school in Monmouth for black children, in 1912. He undertook reforms to prepare the students for a high school education and built pride in the school by emphasizing Black history. He also took side jobs, including working as a dishwasher, due to the low pay that came with his job as a principal of a segregated school.⁶ He also worked as a summer school instructor and a night school instructor for recent immigrants.⁷ By 1917, he was the leader of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in Freehold, New Jersey.⁸

During his time in Freemont, Fenderson became an active leader in the city on behalf of Black people. He became the leader of Freehold’s Colored Citizens Group and helped establish a chapter of the NAACP.⁹ He worked tirelessly for the Black community, advocating for an end to racial bias in the hiring of factories and improving health conditions within the local community.¹⁰ Fenderson ran for the board of education in 1941 and the Freehold council seat in 1941, 1942, and 1947 but was unsuccessful in his attempts.

In 1942, Fenderson brought to the attention of the city council an incident involving James Lee Wilder, a Black New Jersey resident whom Fenderson had taught as a child. Wilder was assaulted into a forced confession by the chief of police, Cornelius DeVries, and an officer. At the city hall, Fenderson demanded justice for Wilder as well as broader police reforms.¹¹ Later that same year, the chief of police requested information from Yale University on Fenderson to verify his past and possibly discredit his credentials. The Yale alumni office returned Fenderson’s school records and requested an update on Fenderson as they had lost contact with him since 1930. DeVries provided a biased summary of his activities in Freehold, labelling his occupation as a “flunky” and “troublemaker between the whites and blacks” and claiming that he took and failed the New Jersey State Bar Exam five times.[^12] Fenderson took an active role in building a case against Freehold’s Police Department and their chief of police, notifying the NAACP and requesting legal support.[^13] However, in August 1943, the accusation was dismissed in a grand jury and a subsequent civil case trial found the officers not liable in January 1944.[^14] Fenderson died in New Jersey in 1957 and is buried in Maplewood Cemetery.