Article written by State Assemblyman Anthony Imperiale, in which he explains his opposition to the Kawaida Towers housing project. Kawaida Towers, a high-rise housing project that Baraka planned to build in Newark’s predominantly white North Ward, was met by fierce opposition from white residents and politicians. — Credit: Seton Hall University Libraries
Report submitted by Newark Police Captain Charles Kinney, regarding his “Investigation Into Possible Criminal Conspiracy During Riots of July 1967.” Wright was one of several figures under surveillance from the Newark Police Department before and after the 1967 Newark Rebellion. The report relied mostly on word-of-mouth accounts from informants, with little hard evidence to support its allegations. — Credit: Seton Hall University Libraries
Volume 2, Number 1 of Black NewArk, the local newspaper of the Committee For Unified Newark (CFUN), published in January 1973. Black NewArk was one of several media outlets developed by Amiri Baraka to promote Black cultural nationalism in Newark and the nation. — Credit: NYU Tamiment Library
Pamphlet distributed by the Economic Research and Action Project, an initiative of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) to organize “an interracial movement of the poor.” The pamphlet served as an introduction and overview of the ERAP for supporters and new organizers, and includes an application form. –Credit: Junius Williams Collection
Photograph of members of the Newark Community Union Project (NCUP) at a 1965 demonstration for a traffic light at Avon and Badger Avenues. Tom Hayden is pictured in the center of the photo, along with Junius Williams (sunglasses and sign). –Credit: Junius Williams Collection
In this essay, Stanley Winters, a veteran organizer in the Clinton Hill neighborhood, describes the interrelated nature of urban renewal politics and struggles for civil rights. Because the vast majority of urban renewal policy makers were white, Black and Puerto Rican communities had little representation in projects that they were disproportionately impacted by. Winters also argues that urban renewal projects were being utilized for the benefit of business interests, rather than community interests.
A printed collection of statements presented by members of the Newark Community Union Project (NCUP) to Adam Clayton Powell’s Congressional Committee investigating the War on Poverty in April, 1965. In their statements, these Newark residents describe a lack of community representation and involvement in the United Community Corporation (UCC) in Newark. As federal funding arrived in Newark, city officials and politicians jockeyed for control of the money for their own purposes, while the city’s poor communities sought access to the antipoverty programs. Mrs. Louise Patterson explains that “the Area Boards are being taken over by Ward Leaders and speeches by politicians and candidates for political office.” — Credit: Newark Public Library
Report written by Rennie Davis, director of the Students for a Democractic Society’s (SDS) Economic Research and Action Project (ERAP), offering a critique on the War on Poverty and strategies for “insurgent response.” SDS was one of many organizations that advocated community control of War on Poverty funding “to change the ghetto and the outside country.” — Credit: Junius Williams Papers
Memo to the Executive Committee of the United Community Corporation (UCC) from Executive Director Cyril Tyson, regarding the establishment, structure, and ideologies of local Area Boards. The Area Boards were established as Community Action Programs to allow “maximum feasible participation” in the UCC from city residents in their neighborhoods. — Credit: Newark Public Library
Article from the Newark Sunday News covering a rent strike demonstration organized by the Clinton Hill Neighborhood Council and Newark Community Union Project (NCUP) at 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: Newark Public Library
