Newark Rebellion Collection

The Newark Rebellion, also known as the Newark Riots, took place from July 12 to July 17, 1967. The civil disturbances took the lives of 26 people, and resulted in hundreds of injuries and arrests, and extensive damage to homes and businesses in Newark’s Central Ward.

The Newark Rebellion is part of the “Long, Hot Summer” of 1967, during which violent clashes erupted in more than a hundred US cities. These disorders were a product of decades of persistent economic and political inequality between white and nonwhite residents, especially in population centers subject to “white flight,” urban decay, corruption, and disinvestment on the part of business and government. Black city dwellers especially suffered from high rates of unemployment, poor living conditions, crime and police brutality.

The arrest and beating of Black cab driver John W. Smith on July 12, 1967, was the incident that sparked the Newark uprising. Smith’s arrest at the 4th Police Precinct was witnessed by residents of the nearby Hayes Homes, a public housing project, with some reports of an unconscious Smith being dragged into the station. Crowds gathered outside the precinct building on 17th Avenue, rumors spread that Smith had died in police custody, and protestors demanded he be transferred to a hospital. Tensions rose, leading to six days of looting, devastating fires, damage to businesses, vehicles and other property, as well as shootings, assaults and arrests. The New Jersey State Police and later the New Jersey Army National Guard were called in by Governor Hughes to intervene, and the violence eventually subsided.

The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, known as the Kerner Commission, was established by President Lyndon B. Johnson in the wake of the 1967 upheavals in Newark and other cities. The 11-member commission investigated the causes of unrest, and released its report in 1968. Partly on the basis of affidavits and testimony gathered by the Newark Legal Services Project, the report found that systemic racism in housing and law enforcement, segregation and poverty were major causes. Although the Commission made recommendations to mitigate the causes of future unrest, many of these suggestions were not adequately explored in Newark. Comparable to the Kerner Commission, Governor Richard J. Hugues established the Governor’s Select Commission for the Study of Civil Disorder in New Jersey, also known as the Lilley Commission. The Governor’s report was to investigate the disturbances in Newark, and those that took place in both Plainfield and Englewood in July of 1967. Released in February of 1968, the Governor’s report had similar findings to the Kerner Commission. Systemic negative conditions such has school system failures, housing and employment discrimination were some of the underlying causes for unrest. Similar to the Kerner Commission, the Lilley Commission made recommendations for the future that were not thoroughly explored.

Much of the Central Ward’s business and housing stock was seriously affected by the Rebellion, leading to further economic decline, unemployment, and disinvestment. These disadvantages were already prevalent in Newark prior to the rebellion, but heightened after the events of 1967. There was an acceleration in the exit of white residents from the city, leading to a significant demographic shift and further racial segregation. The Rebellion did, however, shed light on police brutality and racial tensions in Newark, and arguably strengthened Black Power activism in the city, leading to the election of Newark’s first Black mayor, Kenneth Gibson, in 1970. Later historians and activists have favored the term Newark Rebellion to describe the events of July 1967, in the belief that they should be considered an uprising against injustice and oppression and not, as they had been, as a series of senseless acts of violence.