Happy 116th Birthday to Brooklynite Susannah Mushatt Jones, World’s Oldest Person

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    Born on July 6, 1899, Susannah Mushatt Jones celebrates her 116th birthday today. Jones holds the record for being the world’s oldest living person.

    The Alabama native moved to New York City in 1923, the year that the first Yankee Stadium opened in the Bronx. In the late 1950’s, she met Dr. Martin Luther King in Harlem when he was promoting his book Stride Toward Freedom at Blumstein’s Department Store.

    In 2005, NYCHA honored Ms. Jones (PDF) for regularly participating in the tenant patrol of her building in East New York:

    “One hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon 106-year-old Susie Mushatt Jones takes her turn sitting with the tenant patrol at Vandalia Avenue Houses, a seniors-only New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) development in the East New York section of Brooklyn.”

    That was ten years ago. But Ms. Jones is still going strong.

    Brooklyn’s Susannah Mushatt Jones, the World’s Oldest Person at 115 [NY Daily News]
    Brooklyn Woman Officially Named World’s Oldest Ahead of 116th Birthday [NBC]

    Photo via NY Daily News at left, Photo by Joe Marino for the NY Daily News at right

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