Newark Activist, Entrepreneur Honored During Black History Month

Essex County Freeholders D. Bilal Beasley of Irvington, Rufus Johnson of Newark and Gerald Owens of South Orange and the rest of the freeholders honored Newark residents Nathaniel Drisker, Jr. and Akbar Salaam during the board’s annual African-American History Month Celebration a few weeks ago. 


Salaam helped found the Unity Beef Sausage Company in the mid-1960s, when non-pork sausage was relatively rare. The Newark firm provides halal meats and Salam helped write the state and federal guidelines for halal certification. 

“We put in a little South Carolina, Georgia, New Orleans and a little Florida, our African-American culture, to formulate the first African-American sausage, which we registered with the USDA 45 years ago this past February. So now we’ve got African-American sausage right up there with Italian sausage, Polish sausage and Hebrew National.”

He is also active in many Muslim organizations and has worked on several community service initiatives, including helping to provide services for prison inmates awaiting parole.

Drisker, Jr., was born in 1929 in Tuskegee, Ala and graduated from Benedict College in Columbia, S.C., with a degree in physical education. A longtime Newark resident, Drisker was a lab technician at the VA Hospital in East Orange, a period of time interrupted by his service in the U. S. Army during the Korean War.  After leaving the VA Hospital, he moved on to enjoy a 20-year career as a pharmaceutical salesman for Wyeth Laboratories in New York City until his retirement in 1995. 

Drisker then enjoyed a second career as a community activist in his Irvine Turner Boulevard neighborhood, where he is affectionately known as “Mr. D” and acknowledged as the unofficial mayor.  Through his efforts, city workers have cleaned up debris dumped on the streets and in empty lots, and the NJDOT has cut overgrown grass along Rt. 78.  He also worked to rid the area of prostitution.