Memo from Newark Community Union Project (NCUP) organizer, Tom Hayden, to Newark Evening News reporter Doug Eldridge. Hayden delivered the memo for NCUP and UCC member Jesse Allen to inform the newspaper of the activities of UCC Area Board 3 within the community. — Credit: Junius Williams Papers
The shooting of Lester Long was one of the most well-known and contentious cases of alleged police brutality in Newark during the 1960s and reinvigorated community demands for a police review board. — Credit: Junius Williams Papers
Article written by Newark Evening News reporter Hy Kuperstein on the shooting of Lester Long by Newark Patrolman Henry Martinez. Kuperstein conducted an interview with Martinez at the precinct after the shooting and reported that Martinez said he lost his balance as he got out of the car with his gun drawn. ‘The gun suddenly went off,’ Martinez is quoted. ‘I wasn’t trying to shoot him but he was hit.’ When the official police report came out, this detail was contradicted and Martinez claimed that he dliberately fired at Long. The shooting of Lester Long was one of the most well-known and contentious cases of alleged police brutality in Newark during the 1960s and reinvigorated demands for a police review board. — Credit: Junius Williams Papers
Memorandum from the Newark Police Department detailing their surveillance of a rent strike demonstration at the corner of Clinton and Badger Avenues. The demonstrations were organized to support a rent strike by tenants to protest “rats, roaches, and ridiculous rents.” A rent strike was a tactic used by tenants to force a landlord to make repairs to a housing unit by witholding rent payment until repairs were made. — Credit: Junius Williams Papers
A series of articles from the Newark Evening News in 1956 titled “The Negro in Essex.” The series of articles drew upon the results of a survey the paper conducted in an attempt to call attention to issues of discrimination, segregation, and inequality faced by Newark’s African American communities. — 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
Article from the Newark Evening News on July 13, 1967, the day after John Smith was arrested and beaten by Newark Police outside of the Fourth Precinct. The article describes Mayor Addonizio’s responses to what he called “an isolated incicdent,” including assigning the police officers involved to administrative duty, ordering investigations, and referring the case to the FBI. — Credit: Newark Evening News
