Lois Craig
Lois Craig was born in 1927 in a small house located at 1 Margerum Court in Princeton, NJ. Her mother and maternal grandmother were also natives to Princeton. Lois was raised with 9 siblings and has very fond memories of growing up in Princeton. She attended the Witherspoon School on Quarry Street until the eighth grade. Lois shares that at that time, schools in Princeton were segregated and all white students attended another elementary school located on Nassau Street.
By the time Lois was ready for high school, Princeton Schools were fully integrated. Lois recalls that many African-American residents of the community could not afford to go on to high school and went to work instead. However Lois’s parents were determined to ensure that all of their children attended high school. Lois was an excellent student and graduated from Princeton High School in 1945.
Following her graduation, Lois worked as a nanny for a Princeton University professor and his family for several years. She also married and had one son. In the early 1950’s, she was one of the first African- Americans to be hired by Princeton University. Lois had excellent typing skills and worked as a keypunch operator for several years until she was offered a position as a typist for the Princeton Bank and Trust Company. She later worked as a teacher’s aide for the Princeton Waldorf School until her retirement. Lois eventually purchased the family home on Margerum Court and lived there with her mother and later with her second husband. Eventually she sold it and moved to an apartment in Kingston, NJ.
When her husband passed away, Lois felt that she “wanted to go home” to Princeton. She moved to an apartment on Quarry Street and eventually to Elm Court. Lois says, “I love living at Elm Court in a community and with people my own age. I feel safe here and I am not alone.”