Newark It's My Home Film Collection

Gordon Bishop and Saul S. Taffet collaborated on the documentary, Newark It’s My Home . The film explored urban life in America with the focus being on life in Newark. Much of the film speculated on the future of Newark through city redevelopments and improvements and through the accounts of Newark families and workers.

Gordon Bishop appeared in the film as the reporter and narrator. Bishop was credited as writer and producer, while Taffet was credited as director and editor. The documentary was shot by a five-member crew between March and October of 1980 and was broadcast on PBS during the winter of 1980 and 1981. Some interviews included Mayor Kenneth Gibson, Congressman Pete Rodino, US Senator Bill Bradley, State Senator Wynona Lipman, First Director of the Urban League of Essex County William M. Ashby, Founder of the North Ward Cultural Center Steve Adubato, Manuel Colon of El Club Del Barrio, Executive Superintendent of Schools Alonzo Kittrels, Councilman Anthony Imperiale, Archbishop Peter L. Gerety and Charles Whigham, funeral director and founder of Newark’s first African American bank City National Bank. Newark residents, city workers and laborers were also interviewed. Three Newark families were featured in the documentary; the Freeman Family of Vailsburg, the Pye Family from the North Ward, and the Ferreirinha family of Ironbound. Some of the filming locations included Beth Israel Medical Center, New Eden Baptist Church, So. 17th Street School, St. Columba’s School, Vailsburg High School, Weequahic Park, Lincoln Park, City Hall, Prudential Offices, Mount Carmel Guild, the North Ward Cultural Center, Sacred Heart Cathedral, and the Gateway Center. Many street and cityscapes and aerial views of Newark are featured.

The film was funded by Prudential Insurance Company, New Jersey Bell Telephone Company, Mutual Benefit Life Insurance, Public Service Electric and Gas Co., The Victoria Foundation, The Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge Foundation, the Florence and John Schumann Foundation, First National State Bank of New Jersey, the Howard Savings Bank, Fidelity Union Trust Co., Midlantic National Bank, Carteret Savings and Loan Association and First Jersey National Bank.

Gordon Bishop (1938-2018) was a Rutgers University-Newark Graduate and a journalist for the North Jersey Herald News and the Newark Star Ledger. Bishop received many journalism accolades throughout his career, including the NJ Governors Award for Excellence and the New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists Public Service Award. Bishop hosted the weekly New Jersey Issues from 1988 to 1996 and authored 13 books including Gateway to America: The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and Seven Other Historic Places, Greater Newark: A Microcosm of America and Gems of New Jersey.

Saul S. Taffet (1919-2013) grew up in the Weequahic section of Newark. Taffet was an independent filmmaker and a film professor at the New York University School for Continuing Education.