Audrey Joyce Hart

1941 - 2024

Audrey Joyce Hart

July 15, 1941 - October 20, 2024

Audrey Joyce Hart was born on July 15, 1941, to Ellen (nee' Lynch) and George Hart, in the town of Hertfordshire, England. She received her formal education in England. Her mother, Ellen, was accomplished in both needle point and crochet and taught all her children those crafts. Audrey and her sibling all enjoyed crafting. Audrey also learned how to sew. Before she left England to embark on a new life in America, Audrey had become a professional seamstress, tailor and dressmaker.

When she was twenty-one, Audrey arrived in America to become a nanny in Margate, New Jersey for the Malamut Family – owners of Atlantic City's famed Shelburne Hotel. In the Malamut household, she learned the history of the Jewish people in Atlantic City. She made friends with other domestic workers in Margate, who introduced her to Atlantic City's Black Northside. On the Northside, she was exposed to the history and culture of Atlantic City's Black Communities. Audrey referred to the Atlantic City's Northside as an oasis and paradise.

In 1963, she met Richard Anderson who was a shoemaker. Together they opened a shoe repair and tailoring shop on Kentucky Avenue, known as "The Atlantic City Afros", which became the headquarters for the city's Black Power and Civil Rights Activists. She made and tailored clothes for many of the entertainers who performed at the Club Harlem. She also fashioned African themed garments for which she sold to the public.

The 1960's was a time of the National Civil Rights Movement. Audrey and Richard made sure that Atlantic City was also a part of that movement. Their shop, Atlantic City Afros, was in the forefront of challenging every racial barrier in the city -- including racial discrimination on the beaches, boardwalk, post office, fire department, police department, code enforcement, education and hospitals.

The Atlantic City Afros saw a need for a community-based alcohol and drug rehabilitation center, so they helped to establish NARCO, which later became the Institute for Human Development (IHD), which now more than fifty years later is known and operating as the John Brooks Recovery Center.

In the late 1960's, Audrey and Richard "Skip", would begin their family with three sons, Omar, Abdullah and Tarik Anderson. Because she worked and lived on Kentucky Avenue and had a reputation of not engaging in any illicit or immoral activities, she went to bed between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., the community began referring to her as "Miss Audrey", out of adoration and respect.

In the 1970's Miss Audrey, Skip and the Atlantic City Afros fought against the casino gambling industry coming to Atlantic City and vowed to never work for the casinos or "the Man" if the casinos came. After the casino gambling bill was passed, Miss Audrey fought alone for the poor and unrepresented people of Atlantic City.

In 1980's, she met Walter Palmer who was organizing the mayoral recall efforts of Atlantic City's Mayor Michael Matthews. She joined Walter in the campaign. That was the beginning of a domestic and business partnership that has lasted more than forty years. During their relationship, Miss Audrey and Walter built a few people's movements in Atlantic City.

Miss Audrey, seemed to always be working on the people's movement. However, her true dedication was to her children and their families. She wanted to make the world better for them than the one she lived.

Audrey is predeceased by: her parents, Ellen and George Hart; her sibling, Bernard; son, Omar; and great-grandson, Amar.

Those she has left to cherish her fond memories and inherit the many fruits of her labor are: siblings, Leonard, Maureen, Michael, Raymond and Teresa; her domestic partner, Dr. Walter D. Palmer; sons, Abdullah and Tarik Anderson and Lamar Irby; daughters-in-law, Cynthia and Octavia Anderson; grandchildren, Bria, Jamal, Malik, Amira, Abdullah Jr., Nicole, Isabella and Zy'hara; her great-grandchildren, Zion, Amoura, Omar and Cooper.

Services to celebration the life of Miss Audrey Joyce Hart will be 11 a.m., Saturday, November 2, 2024, New Shiloh Baptist Church, 701 Atlantic Avenue, Atlantic City, New Jersey, where friends may call from 9 a.m.

Arrangements entrusted to Greenidge Funeral Homes, Atlantic City, where photographs and condolences may be shared at www.greenidgefuneralhomes.com.

Greenidge Funeral Homes, Inc.

301 Absecon Boulevard, Atlantic City, NJ 08401