Who the Heck is Karen Brittingham-Edmond?
- Karen Brittingham-Edmond
- Jul 9
- 9 min read
Updated: Jul 10
July 9, 2026
✨ About Karen Brittingham‑Edmond
Black North American Woman | Scholar | Author | Cultural Torchbearer | Publisher of Echo News TV LLC
Monmouth County, NJ - Karen Brittingham‑Edmond is a proud Black North American woman whose life’s work stands at the intersection of scholarship, cultural preservation, and community advocacy. With academic credentials in Public Relations, Human Services, and Psychology, Karen brings both lived experience and rigorous training to her writing, research, and public engagement. Her most recent work, The Bad Dream Part 1 & 2: An American Prophecy (December 2025), reflects her commitment to unveiling uncomfortable truths, confronting historical omissions, and empowering Black communities through knowledge and clarity.
Karen’s commitment to advocacy began long before her professional career — at just twelve years old, during a pivotal moment in American history. In 1975, as the United States entered its Bicentennial celebrations, marking 200 years since the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, Karen was a sixth‑grader at Gregory Elementary School in Long Branch, New Jersey. While the nation celebrated its symbolic milestone, Karen witnessed a very different reality inside her classroom: dramatic, emotional, and academic shifts among classmates whose family members had recently returned from the Vietnam War.
Drawing on an extraordinary early awareness of trauma, poverty, and family instability, Karen authored her first formal proposal — “Fun Day,” a school‑wide event designed to restore joy, unity, and recognition for all students. Her teacher, Mr. Fornino, immediately submitted the proposal to Principal Joe Palia, who presented it to the Board of Education that same evening. When the announcement came over the intercom, her classroom erupted in pride. In that moment, Karen discovered her lifelong purpose: to write boldly, tell the truth, and advocate for communities navigating hardship.
🌟 A Legacy That Lives On
Thanks to the unwavering support of her Gregory School teachers — including her third‑grade teacher Miss Ware, Ware, who, notably, was adept at tracing Karen Brittingham’s direct lineage to Major Dr. Martin Delany, Civil War hero and publisher of "The Mystery" abolitionist newspaper as well as editor for Frederick Douglass’s "North Star", Mrs. Rhymer, a dedicated educator; her fifth‑grade teacher Mr. Somma, parish catechetical leader of St. Gabriel’s Parish in New Jersey; Mr. Fornino, Karen’s sixth-grade teacher who believed in teaching his students to think critically; plus, Principal Joe Palia of Gregory Elementary School—Fun Day evolved from a simple proposal into a cherished tradition.
Fun Day is still celebrated throughout New Jersey to this day, a lasting testament to Karen’s childhood leadership. Principal Palia preserved her original proposal in a time capsule buried on the front lawn of Gregory School, to be opened fifty years later. Although the school has since been converted into an apartment complex, the lawn remains untouched — still safeguarding Karen’s sixth‑grade work and the legacy of the educators who uplifted her.
🌿 Legacy, Land, and Cultural Stewardship
Karen’s life is deeply rooted in the history of Lincroft, formerly Leedsville, a once Black‑owned town whose name was changed by Monmouth County freeholders. This region — long recognized as Lenni Lenape homeland — also holds the intertwined histories of their admixed African descendants, whose presence is documented in older Monmouth County atlases from 1873–1889. These maps show the original territorial boundaries, family settlements, and shared land stewardship that existed before later political and administrative erasures.
The Monmouth County Council not only changed the name of the town itself but also renamed its central thoroughfare. What was once Leedsville Avenue, a road reflecting the community’s early identity, is now known as Newman Springs Road — sometimes referred to locally as Paul Newman Road, in honor of the Jewish actor Paul Newman. This renaming, like the transformation of Leedsville into Lincroft, reflects a broader pattern of 18th‑ and 19th‑century Lenni Lenape territories being overwritten, absorbed, or obscured through county‑level decisions that did not acknowledge the Indigenous and African families who lived there for generations.
Karen’s great-great‑grandmother, Emma Schneck Parker Rock, a Lenni Lenape descendant fluent in twelve dialects, lived on this land — territory that carried the memory of chiefs, council members, and families whose histories were often left out of official narratives. Karen’s revival of The Echo, originally founded in 1904 by her great‑grandfather William Elijah Rock, honors this lineage and restores visibility to communities whose contributions were systematically minimized. Contrary to some records, The Echo continued into the 1960s under her grandfather, Leroy Rock, and his brother, Arnold, operating from Red Bank, NJ.
At a family gathering in Lincroft, Karen’s cousins — Petey Rock, Pauly Rock, Phillip Rock, and Donna Shomo — entrusted her with restoring the paper. She fulfilled that charge on her mother’s birthday, July 6, 2019, relaunching Echo News TV LLC as both an online newspaper and cultural institution dedicated to truth‑telling, community uplift, and historical preservation. https://www.echonewstv.com/post/spotlight-report-william-elijah-rock-a-trailblazer-in-black-journalism-and-community-empowerment
Karen previously led volunteer efforts to maintain her family’s ancestral gravesite at Ruffin Court, Pine Brook (now Tinton Falls) — resting place of Lenni Lenape descendants and their African‑American relatives before her mother’s family members requested she stop organizing volunteers plus resourced to care for the site in 2023. These grounds, including Shadow Rest, Pine Brook Cemetery, and Ruffin Private Cemetery, hold chiefs, council members, and warriors whose histories were shaped by federal policies such as the Indian Removal Act. Karen’s stewardship ensures that these stories are not lost.not lost. https://www.echonewstv.com/post/why-the-rock-family-volunteer-historic-cemetery-care-project-has-been-stymied-by-nad-ruffin-family
🖋 Independent Author & Cultural Creator
Karen’s creative and scholarly work is inseparable from her lived experience. Between the ages of nineteen and twenty‑four, she endured persistent homelessness — a period that sharpened her analytical instincts and deepened her commitment to protecting Black American families from political, demographic, and ideological displacement. In 1987, at twenty‑four, she secured stable housing at Grant Court off Liberty Street in Long Branch, New Jersey. With her daughter Sophia, she began working at the Long Branch Housing Authority, where she witnessed firsthand how municipal decisions shaped the daily lives of Black citizens and their economically struggling families.
It was here that Karen learned of the city’s plan to demolish the Bucky James Community Center, a vital hub for Black families. Listening to neighborhood mothers, she created Project Hope, a culturally grounded initiative designed to demonstrate the center’s daily value through structured programming — puzzles, arts and crafts, outdoor recreation, and community clean‑ups. Project Hope mobilized Black mothers, created a practical barrier against demolition, and became a recognized force for community stability.
Supported by her former classmate David Brown, retired veteran Avery Grant, community leader Mrs. Jean Hastings, and advocacy from Councilman Frank Pallone, Project Hope flourished. Its impact deepened when Mr. Carl Jennings, an HBCU graduate, became the Recreational Director in Long Branch, NJ, representing both Black youth and senior citizens.
Karen’s cultural organizing gained national attention when she partnered with the Count Basie Art Center to bring Wynton Marsalis to the Bucky James Community Center for a meet‑and‑greet with more than 120 children and adults, followed by a jazz concert invitation. Wynton Marsalis — Biography — Wynton Marsalis Official Website
As her family grew — Sophia, Joshua, Jordan, Judah, and Ariel — Karen expanded Project Hope through a decade‑long partnership with Aslan Youth Ministries, led by Lynn Ann and Craig Bogard, providing free field trips, recreational activities, Christian education, and Christmas support for Long Branch youth.
Before leaving her position as government bookkeeper — a departure influenced by her 2nd ex‑husband that returned her family to homelessness — Karen established a partnership between the Housing Authority and AT&T’s Volunteer Christmas Gift Share, ensuring brand‑new Christmas gifts for children in Housing Authority residences.
During this period, Mr. Armor, President of the Monmouth County Pan American Council, introduced Karen to a young political hopeful from Chicago. After observing Project Hope, the young political hopeful from Chicago described her work as “quality community organizing.” He, the visitor, and Mr. Randy Phillips, who oversaw the newly established Project Hope office at the LBHA, predicted the young visitor would one day run for president. This was the Fall or summer of 1989. That visitor was Barack Obama.
Karen was urged to join their organizing team, but poverty pressures and her ex‑husband’s insistence on leaving Long Branch asap forced her to walk away from what she now recognizes as a historic opportunity.
An independent author published through KDP, Amazon, and AMZ Publishing, Karen is also the former producer of the beloved Comcast Public Access children’s program “I Can See You Well with the Kidz Club,” which aired from the mid‑1990s through 2008 and brought cultural affirmation, music, exercise, and scripture to families across central and southern New Jersey.
Her latest work, The Bad Dream Part 1 & 2: An American Prophecy, released in December 2025, confronts historical omissions, psychological operations, and the ongoing challenges facing Black North American families. Her voice is bold, incisive, and unwavering — a call to vigilance, historical literacy, and protection of Black children’s futures.
🧠 A Career Rooted in Service
Karen’s professional path has always centered on community wellbeing. Trained in child abuse prevention and community partnership at the Trenton Warfare Building, she served as an outreach specialist and administrative assistant with the Asbury Park Community Collaborative, a key initiative within the Department of Child Abuse Prevention under Rev. Dr. Armstrong of historic Shiloh Baptist Church. His leadership ensured that Black North Americans finally had representation in state‑level family services — a critical shift after decades in which the absence of Black leadership contributed to inequitable access to resources.
Karen’s analysis of social systems is shaped by her psychological training and her firsthand experience navigating institutions where Black families were often marginalized. She writes from a perspective that recognizes how political, demographic, and economic forces can shape — and sometimes destabilize — long‑standing communities. Her work urges readers to remain vigilant, informed, and engaged, emphasizing that ignorance is dangerous, especially when it concerns the well-being of Black children and families. https://www.echonewstv.com/post/elevators-down-dignity-down-new-jersey-seniors-demand-action-as-federally-funded-housing-fails-the
Karen’s service‑driven career extends into her scholarly contributions. In 2019, she created and conducted interviews for the mini‑documentary “Entwined for Survival: Monmouth County’s Native American People and the Black Enslaved Population.” This film explores the intertwined histories of the Lenni Lenape and the African enslaved population dating back to the 1600s, using oral history and archival research to illuminate narratives long ignored in mainstream accounts. About | The Echo Press
Karen is the original concept creator, architect, and intellectual force behind the Monmouth County Freedom Stories Series at the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center. Drawing on her academic background in Public Relations, Human Services, Psychology, and Clinical Research Management, she developed the series, co‑authored grant proposals, organized historical research, and recruited participants. Her initiative formed a partnership with Director Gilda Rogers, resulting in grant‑funded documentaries supported by the Monmouth County Historical Commission. https://www.echonewstv.com/post/racing-for-freedom-the-unheralded-truth-behind-monmouth-county-s-black-equestrian-legacy-and-the-er
Her first Freedom Story, “Racing for Freedom,” highlights the overlooked legacies of Black horsemen and racing professionals whose contributions shaped Monmouth County’s cultural and sporting history. The documentary features:
Mr. Noel M.P. — Senior Lead Bettor and Public Relations Representative
Mr. Ronnie Taylor — Retired jockey and bloodstock agent
Mr. Gate — Senior Clocker, Concept Creator, and Bloodstock Agent
Filmed at the Red Bank Library by Steve Rogers, Executive Producer for PBS/NJTV’s Driving Jersey/Here’s The Story, the documentary restores visibility to Black professionals whose stories were shaped by Jim Crow‑era racism and institutional exclusion.
Despite Karen’s central role as concept creator, interviewer, project architect, and grant co‑author, the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center has not consistently acknowledged her intellectual labor. Karen names this omission clearly: accurate credit is an ethical requirement, and the erasure of Black women’s intellectual property is a longstanding institutional problem she refuses to allow to continue unchallenged.
💪 Resilience and Family Leadership
Karen’s personal journey reflects profound resilience. After her husband left their sixteen‑year marriage, she raised five children through high school, welcomed her niece Jenna, and later nurtured her grandchildren — Shamer, Jaden, and Dylan. Her home on Swimming River Road in Lincroft became a haven for extended family, continuing a tradition of communal care deeply rooted in Black and Lenape heritage.
Every child in her care pursued higher education, supported by Karen’s unwavering commitment to stability, safety, and opportunity.
🔥 A Voice of Warning, Wisdom, and Empowerment
Karen’s writing is unapologetically direct — shaped by psychological insight, historical awareness, and a devotion to truth. She argues that Black Americans must remain alert to social and political dynamics that can undermine their communities. Her perspective highlights how demographic shifts, resource competition, and historical caste systems — particularly those originating in Spanish and Mexican colonial hierarchies — can influence modern social tensions.
Karen’s charge is clear:
Hold the line.
Protect Black North American children’s futures.
Knowledge is defense.
Ignorance is danger.
Her voice is bold, incisive, sometimes humorous, always rooted in understanding — a call for all Americans to recognize the tactics that threaten justice and to stand firm in pursuit of truth.
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