5 Days in July: The Newark Riots of 1967

1. 5 Days in July: The Newark Riots of 1967 Dr. Fran Corvasce Macko Curriculum Specialist: New York City Department of Education (retired)

2. New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards • STANDARD 6.4 (United States and New Jersey History) All students will demonstrate knowledge of United States and New Jersey history in order to understand life and events in the past and how they relate to the present and future. • Analyze the Civil Rights and Women's Movements, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Civil Rights Act (1957 and 1964), the Little Rock Schools Crisis, the Voting Rights Act, Brown v. Board of Education, the formation of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the American Indian Movement (AIM), the formation of the National Organization for Women (NOW), and the passing of Title IX.

3. Setting the Stage: The National Picture What were the key events in The Civil Rights Movement that set the stage for the 1967 Newark Riots? What was the tension between policy and practice?

4. The Civil Rights Acts of 1964 • July 2, 1964: President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national origin. The law also provides the federal government with the powers to enforce desegregation.

5. Murder of 3 CivilRights Workers • Aug. 4, 1964: The bodies of three civil-rights workers—two white, one black—James E. Chaney, 21; Andrew Goodman, 21; and Michael Schwerner, 24, had been working to register black voters in Mississippi, and, on June 21, had gone to investigate the burning of a black church. They were arrested by the police on speeding charges, incarcerated for several hours,and then released after dark into the hands of the Ku Klux Klan, who murdered them.

6. Bloody Sunday • March 7, 1964: Blacks begin a march to Montgomery in support of voting rights but are stopped at the Pettus Bridge by a police blockade. Fifty marchers are hospitalized after police use tear gas, whips, and clubs against them. The incident is dubbed "Bloody Sunday" by the media. The march is considered the catalyst for pushing through the voting rights act five months later.

7. Voting Rights Act of 1965 • Aug. 10, 1965: Congress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965, making it easier for Southern blacks to register to vote. Literacy tests, poll taxes, and other such requirements that were used to restrict black voting are made illegal.

8. The Watts Riots • Aug. 11–17, 1965: Race riots erupt in the Watts section of Los Angeles.

9. Affirmative Action • Sept. 24, 1965: Asserting that civil rights laws alone are not enough to remedy discrimination, President Johnson issues Executive Order 11246, which enforces affirmative action for the first time. It requires government contractors to "take affirmative action" toward prospective minority employees in all aspects of hiring and employment.

10. The formation of the Black Panthers • October 1966: The militant Black Panthers are founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale.

11. Stokely Carmichael coins the term “black power” • April 19, 1967: Stokely Carmichael, a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), coins the phrase "black power" in a speech in Seattle. He defines it as an assertion of black pride and "the coming together of black people to fight for their liberation by any means necessary." The term's radicalism alarms many who believe the civil rights movement's effectiveness and moral authority crucially depend on nonviolent civil disobedience.

12. The Newark and Detroit Race Riots • July 1967: Major race riots take place in Newark (July 12–16) and Detroit (July 23–30).

13. Setting the Stage: Newark 1967 • What social, economic and political factors created a sense of powerlessness and disenfranchisement among the black community in Newark?

14. Police-Community Relations • The police force was predominantly Irish and Italian. • Young blacks were routinely stopped and questioned with or without provocation. • During the decade before the riots, several high profile cases of police brutality against young black men, some resulting in death, were reported; few cases ever made it to a jury.

15. Political Exclusion • Black residents of Newark were excluded from positions of political power. • Mayor Hugh Addonizio, who ran on a ticket of sensitivity to blacks concerns, failed to appoint blacks to leadership positions in his administration. • Key example: The appointment of Councilman James T. Callaghan over Wilbur Parker.

16. Johnson’s War on Poverty • The Federal Government channeled funds to community groups in poor neighborhoods as a means of empowering poor people to address local social problems. • As a result, black communities like Newark began to organize politically. • Then anti-poverty funds were cut, curtailing these grass roots efforts.

17. Urban Renewal • A plan was proposed to build a superhighway that would bisect the black community. • A plan was proposed to clear 150 acres of “slum” land to build a medical school/hospital complex. • The result was the demolition of homes in the predominantly black Central Ward and the “squeezing out” of black residents.

18. Unemployment and Poverty • The decline of industry in Newark and the loss of manufacturing jobs • Closing of breweries, tanneries, and the Westinghouse and General Electric plants • Greatest impact on blue color workers, most of whom were African-American • The lack of jobs for young blacks entering the job market • 37.8% jobless rate among 16-19 year old black men

19. Housing • Much of the housing in the predominantly black neighborhoods was uninhabitable by current health and safety standards. • Newark’s application for the Model Cities program in 1966 described over “40,000 of the city’s 136,000 housing units as substandard or dilapidated”. • Landlords often set fire to their buildings rather than make necessary repairs. • Newark averaged 3620 structural fires per year between 1961 and 1967. • Public housing resulted in a concentration of poverty and further isolation of the black community.

20. Demographic Change • The black population of Newark rose from 70,000 in 1950 to 220,000 in 1967. • There was a corresponding decline in the white population of 158,000. • By 1967, 55% of Newark’s population was African-American. • The highest concentration was in the Central Ward.

21. The Pivotal Event • The arrest of black cab driver John W. Smith by white police officers John DeSimone and Vito Pontrelli, allegedly for driving around their double parked police car.

22. The Consequences • Smith was severely beaten by the arresting officers. • He was taken to a precinct across the street from a the Hayes Homes, a large public housing project. • Despite efforts by civil rights workers to calm the crowd, rumors spread that Smith was killed by the police. • The crowd threw bottles and bricks at the precinct and the violence began.

23. The Fatalities • Over the course of 5 days: • 26 people were killed; all but 2 were African-American. • Most of the victims were killed by the police or National Guard. • Many were innocent bystanders • Eddie Moss, a 10 year old boy • Eloise Spellman, a 41 year old mother • Rose Lee Abraham, a 45 year old mother

24. The Injuries • The number of injuries ranged from 725 (according to a New Jersey state police report) to 1020 reported by the director of Newark City Hospital. • Not counted in the statistics is the impact of the deaths and injuries on the families of the victims.

25. Collateral Damage • 1,500 people were arrested. • Newark suffered 10 million dollars in property damage, mostly in the predominantly black Central Ward.

26. Perspectives on the 1967 Newark Riots • Students at Rutgers Universityspent nearly two years conducting interviews in Newark with people who witnessed these events firsthand. • They chose to interview a broad variety of people including: residents, merchants, militants, police, and national guardsmen.

27. Interviews with Eyewitnesses • Listen to some perspectives on the question: • What language would you use to describe this event? Riot? Rebellion? Civil Unrest? • http://www.67riots.rutgers.edu/question1.htm

28. The Legacy of the 1967 Newark Riots • Personal Legacy: the impact on the survivors: • Moise Abraham (Rose Lee’s son) struggled emotionally since (the death of his mother). Almost as painful, Abraham says, is the lack of acknowledgment for what the riots wrought. • "It is personal, but it is a pain that we all felt," says Abraham, 56, who yearns for a citywide memorial service for the 26 who died in the riots. "Even if they had done it once every 20 years, I would have appreciated that. But it's just total silence. ... It seems that for some reason, Newark has forgotten."

29. The Economic, Social and Political Legacy • What challenges continue to face Newark today? • What efforts have been made to address the conditions/ inequities that led to the 1967 riots? • Why is Newark still struggling to rebuild over 40 years later?

30. Resources • Web-based resources and video • http://www.67riots.rutgers.edu • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmXebsimMx8&feature=related (News report with bias) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNsduB0YlS8&NR=1 (Contrast of white and black neighborhoods after the riots) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNsduB0YlS8&NR=1 (5 days in July) *** • http://www.5daysinjulyinstallation.com/info.php (Non YouTube link)