Dorothy Blackwell McNeil

Dorothy Blackwell McNeil (born Jersey City, 1950s) is recognized as a significant member of the Hoboken, Hudson County, New Jersey, community, especially for her co-ownership and management of Hoboken's Club Zanzibar (1961-1981) which hosted African-American entertainers.

Community recognition

In 2006 the Hoboken Oral History Project published a chapbook entitled Recollections of Dorothy McNeil that includes photos of Hoboken, McNeil and her family, Club Zanzibar, and some of the entertainers who performed there. The project is part of Hoboken's efforts, through recollections of "longtime residents" to remember "the working-class identity and tradition of multi-ethnic living that has been disappearing as the city has gentrified." The interviewers for the oral histories, Bob Foster and Holly Metz, explain that interviewees are carefully chosen and, when the chapbook is finished, the Museum hosts an event to celebrate the "honoree." The Dorothy McNeil chapbook was ninth in a series that reached 33 volumes by 2020.

In 2010 McNeil was among 35 women honored by Hudson County (where Hoboken is situated) for having "made Hudson County history with their commitment and dedication to improve the quality of life in their communities."

In 2018 McNeil, along with fellow Hoboken celebrities photographer Dorothea Lange and sportswoman Maria Pepe, was honored by her home town with a large (150’ by 35’) mural on a commercial building's exterior wall. At the mural's unveiling Hoboken's then mayor, Ravi S. Bhalla, called the three women "trailblazers" who "made tremendous impacts on their community and the country.” DISTORT, the artist who created the mural, said his intention was to "honor Hoboken's history as a working-class and artistic city" and these women who had contributed to its "character."

Personal life

McNeil was the daughter of Gladys Elizabeth Richardson, originally from the South, and David Blackwell, originally from New York State. She recalls their family as being among the earliest African-American families to live in Hoboken. When she was six weeks old, a fire broke out in the rental property where her family lived and she was "thrown out the window" to be "caught by a homeless person" who claimed her as his own after that. She had one son before marrying Charles McNeil, and also a daughter.

Charles McNeil had been a truck driver before buying in to the Zanzibar. One of his co-workers was Anthony Provenzano, who later became Head of Teamster Local 560; with Provenzano's backing, McNeil broke the color barrier at one of the local trucking companies.