Jewel Joseph Newman
| Jewel Joseph Newman | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Member of the East Baton Rouge Parish Council from Scotlandville | |
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In office 1972–1984 |
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| Louisiana State Representative for District 63 | |
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In office 1984–1988 |
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| Preceded by | Joseph Delpit |
| Succeeded by | Kip Holden |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
March 3, 1921 Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Died | October 4, 2014 (aged 93) |
| Resting place | Donated corpse to medical science |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) |
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| Children |
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| Parents | Joseph "Papa" and Florence Knox Newman |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation |
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| Military service | |
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Rank | Sergeant 4th class |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Jewel Joseph Newman (March 3, 1921 – October 4, 2014) was an African American Democratic politician and community organizer from the historically black Scotlandville neighborhood of his native Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The son of Joseph "Papa" Newman and the former Florence Knox, Newman graduated at the age of twenty in 1941 from the then segregated black McKinley Senior High School in the capital city of Baton Rouge. He attended the then all-black Southern University, at which he was a member of the Reserve Corps program. He was quickly called to active duty in the United States Army, in which he served until his discharge in 1945 at the rank of Sergeant 4th Class. For fifteen years thereafter, he owned and operated an Esso service station in Baton Rouge.
Even before he entered politics, he was involved in bringing Little League competition to Scotlandville. In 1972, Newman won the first of his three four-year term on the East Baton Rouge Parish Council as the representative from the Scotlandville area. In 1983, he was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives to succeed Joseph Delpit, who had also been the first African American city council member from Baton Rouge. Newman served a single term in the House from 1984 to 1988 which corresponded with the third term of Governor Edwin Edwards. He defeated the 31-year-old lawyer Kip Holden, later the first black to serve as Baton Rouge Mayor-President. Through his "Help Our People for East Baton Rouge" program, Representative Newman in 1985 raised $14,000 through bingo games to keep open three food stamp offices in north Baton Rouge, which had been marked for closure under state budget restraints. In the 1987 nonpartisan blanket primary, Holden unseated Newman. The two subsequently became warm friends.
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