Grand Jury report describing the death of Victor Louis Smith on July 16, 1967, who was “found dead in a hallway” due to an “overdose of narcotics.” The Grand Jury found “no cause for indictment.” — Credit: Newark Public Library
James Rutledge, Sr. wrote this note, giving the Perry Funeral Home the authority to permit photographers to take pictures of his son’s body after he was gunned down by city and state police on July 16th. A photograph of James Rutledge, Jr.’s body in the morgue was distributed throughout the city and gained notoriety with the Essex County Grand Jury. According to photographer C. Danny Dawson, “The body would have looked worse if it hadnt been opened for embalming.” Rutledge was shot 39 times. — Credit: New Jersey State Archives
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 a WCBS radio interview with Dr. Kenneth Clark on July 16, 1967, in which he discusses his interpretations and analysis of the ongoing rebellions in Newark. In the interview, Dr. Clark says “as a psychologist, I would suggest the hypothesis that in some unconscious way, or maybe not so unconscious, incoherent, way the rioting people are saying, we want this destroyed… They’re saying, you know, it’s the only way that we’ll get change.” — Credit: Newark Public Library
Notes of Newark Legal Services Project on witness accounts of the death of Victor Louis Smith, which claim that there were “no bullet wounds.” According to police, Smith was a “suspected narcotics victim.” — Credit: junius Williams Papers
Grand Jury report describing the death of Victor Louis Smith on July 16, 1967, who was “found dead in a hallway” due to an “overdose of narcotics.” The Grand Jury found “no cause for indictment.” — Credit: Newark Public Library
Flyer distributed by Amiri Baraka and others depicting a photo of James Rutledge in the morgue, along with accounts and analyses of the rebellions title the “Black Survival Bulletin.” — Credit: Newark Public Library
Original caption from Life magazine: “Presented as a witness to police brutality, the grieving mother of 19-year-old Negro James Rutledge, who died in Newark riots, claimed her son was shot at least 39 times by police as he tried to save the lives of children trapped in looted store.” (Life, August 4, 1967) — Credit: LIFE Magazine
Deposition of 14-year-old Dennis Hughes before the Essex County Grand Jury, in which he describes the fatal shooting of James Rutledge by State Troopers and Newark Police in Joe Rae’s Tavern on July 16, 1967. — Credit: Newark Public Library
Deposition of 14-year-old Robert Hatcher before the Essex County Grand Jury, in which he describes the fatal shooting of James Rutledge by State Troopers and Newark Police in Jo-Rae’s Tavern on July 16, 1967. — Credit: Newark Public Library
