Witness Testimony of Earl Harris before the Governor’s Select Commission on Civil Disorders on December 8, 1967. The Commission was formed to investigate the causes of the 1967 Newark rebellion and operated much like a Grand Jury investigation. –Credit: Rutgers University Digital Legal Library Repository
Transcript of address given by Governor Richard J. Hughes to the Governor’s Select Commission for the Study of Civil Disorder in New Jersey on August 8, 1967. The Commission was convened by Governor Hughes to study “the causes, the incidents, and the remedies” for the 1967 Newark rebellion. The Governor’s Commission, also known as the Lilley Commission after its chair Robert Lilley, held months of hearings from Newark residents and later published its findings in Report for Action. — Credit: New Jersey State Archives
Excerpt from the Governor’s Select Commission on Civil Disorder regarding the influence of the Parker-Callaghan fight on the 1967 Newark rebellion. The excerpt includes testimony from Police Director Dominick Spina saying ‘The types of speeches that were made before the Planning Board and the Board of Education tell you, almost predict, that there is going to be blood running in the streets.’ — Credit: Report for Action: Governor’s Select Commission on Civil Disorder, State of New Jersey
Excerpt from the testimony of community leader Harry Wheeler before the Governor’s Select Commission on Civil Disorder on December 8, 1967. In this excerpt, Mr. Wheeler discusses the abusive practices of the Newark Police Department and describes a particular instance when he was accosted by Newark police officers. — Credit: Rutgers University Digital Legal Library Repository
Address given to the Governor’s Select Commission on Civil Disorders by an unidentified member of the Commission, about a year after the publication of the Commission’s findings in Report for Action. In this address, the speaker criticizes the city of Newark and State of New Jersey for failing to implement the vast majority of the recommendations of the Commission, “the fulfillment of which it considered mandatory to the establishment of order and justice.” Only 26 of the Commission’s 99 recommendations were implemented. — Credit: Newark Public Library
Draft article by Newark Evening News reporter Doug Eldridge describing Ken Gibson’s comments on the report issued by the Governor’s Select Commission on Civil Disorders. Gibson, a member of Newark’s Business Industrial Coordinating Council (BICC) and 1966 mayoral candidate, became the first African-American mayor of Newark in 1970. — Credit: Newark Public Library
Letter from Rev. Kim Jefferson, Executive Secretary of the Greater Newark Council of Churches, to Robert Lilley, chairman of the Governor’s Select Commission on Civil Disorder, on February 26, 1968. The Commission was convened by Governor Hughes to study “the causes, the incidents, and the remedies” for the 1967 Newark rebellion. — Credit: Newark Public Library
A February 12, 1968 press release from the Newark Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA) issued in response to the report of the Governor’s Select Commission on Civil Disorder. The Commission was convened by Governor Hughes to study “the causes, the incidents, and the remedies” for the 1967 Newark rebellion. The press release, prepared by Anthony Giuliano and Raymond Bossert, claimed “The accusations and allegations made [in the report] are without any proof, unsubstantiated and Un-American.” — Credit: Newark Public Library
A February 19, 1968 press release from the New Jersey State Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA) issued in response to the report of the Governor’s Select Commission on Civil Disorder. The Commission was convened by Governor Hughes to study “the causes, the incidents, and the remedies” for the 1967 Newark rebellion. In response to the Commission’s recommendation to establish a civilian police review board in Newark, the PBA stated “the creation of a civilian police review board will be fought with every weapon at the command of the State PBA.” — Credit: Newark Public Library
Photograph of members of the Governor’s Select Commission on Civil Disorder. Governor Richard J. Hughes established the commission to study the causes of the 1967 Newark rebellion and issue a comprehensive report. Seated left to right: Governor Richard Hughes, former Governor Robert Meyner, Robert Lilley (Commission Chairman and president of NJ Bell Telephone Co.), and former Governor Alfred Driscoll. Standing from left to right: Oliver Lofton (director of Newark Legal Services Project), Raymond Brown (Commission Vice-Chairman and Jersey City lawyer), Ben Z. Leuchter (editor of Vineland Times-Journal), and Reverend Prince Taylor (Methodist Bishop of New Jersey). Absent are William A. Wachenfeld (former New Jersey Supreme Court justice), John J. Gibbons (president of New Jersey Bar Association), Bishop John Dougherty (president of Seton Hall University), and Sanford Jaffe (Commission Executive Director and US attorney). — Credit: Newark Public Library
