Rats, Roaches, and Ridiculous Rents Demonstration (1964)

This demonstration was organized by the Clinton Hill Neighborhood Council and Newark Community Union Project (NCUP) to protest housing conditions in Clinton Hill. The picketers supported 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. The photograph was marked to identify NCUP organizer, Tom Hayden. — Credit: New Jersey State Archives