Section One: Race, Rebellion, & Reform

This picture of the neighborhood boys around “seated Lincoln” in 1929 promoted an ideal vision of the city of Newark, which did not match the reality of power struggles between white ethnic groups and the new African American migrants relocating from…

The Newark Community Union Project, seen above, protested police brutality in 1965. Norman Fruchter, an NCUP member, recalled “whenever the campaigns moved into the streets, they always brought a huge police presence and a whole lot of…

As indicated above, not all acts of resistance during the Rebellion were violent. New levels of anger over combined forces of police brutality and the medical school project resulted in widespread community opposition from a variety of diverse…

Protesters demand a civilian review board in 1965. Robert Curvin, leader of the Essex County chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), warned that the “people were fantastically aggrieved” over the lack of police accountability following the…

When she testified before the Lilley Commission, community activist Louise Epperson focused on the actions of law enforcement, “The police department and the State troopers and all this militia shooting people down unwarranted. It was worse than the…

During a three day period, over 13,000 rounds were dispersed by state militia resulting in the death of twenty-three black citizens. A total of twenty-six people lost their lives, eight of those by indiscriminate police fire, as this excerpt from the…