New York Times: National Guardsmen wielding rifles with bayonets advanced along Springfield Avenue in Newark on July 14, 1967.

Grade Level:  Secondary

Lesson Creator by:  The New Jersey Center for Civic Education

Overview: The series of activities consider the causes and consequences of race riots in Newark, New Jersey, in the context of efforts by African-American to obtain civil rights during the 1960s, and today.

Time:  Three 45-minute periods

Objectives:   Students will be able to:

• examine the impact of restrictive covenants and redlining utilized under the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) program on race segregation in NJ
• describe the difference between the de jure and de facto discrimination
• debate whether and why eliminating de facto discrimination is tougher than ending de jure discrimination
• explain why race riots in many of New Jersey’s cities took place in the 1960s
• analyze the role of the Federal and State Governments in ensuring Civil Rights and its impact on race relations
• explain the differences between political and economic and social civil rights
• compare and contrast the conditions that led to the urban race riots in New Jersey in the 1960s to those that contribute to present day race riots in the United States
• assess the success of the civil rights movement in New Jersey and nationwide
• analyze various perspectives about Black Lives Matter
• create an agenda of what needs to be done to address the underlying issues that have spurred the Civil Rights Movement as well as race riots and protests

NJ Social Studies Content Standards:

6.1.12.EconNM.8.a: Analyze the push-pull factors that led to the Great Migration

6.1.12.HistoryCC.8.a: Make evidence-based inferences to explain why the Great Migration led to heightened racial tensions, restrictive laws, a rise in repressive organizations, and an increase in violence.

6.1.12.CivicsPI.13.a: Craft an argument as to the effectiveness of the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, New Jersey Supreme Court decisions (i.e., Hedgepeth and Williams v. Trenton Board of Education), and New Jersey’s laws in eliminating segregation and discrimination.

6.1.12.CivicsDP.13.a: Analyze the effectiveness of national legislation, policies, and Supreme Court decisions in promoting civil liberties and equal opportunities (i.e., the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the Equal Rights Amendment, Title VII, Title IX, Affirmative Action, Brown v. Board of Education, and Roe v. Wade).

6.1.12.EconEM.13.a: Explain how individuals and organizations used economic measures as weapons in the struggle for civil and human rights (e.g., the Montgomery Bus Boycott, sit downs).

6.1.12.EconNE.13.b: Evaluate the effectiveness of social legislation that was enacted to end poverty in the 1960s and today by assessing the economic impact on the economy (e.g., inflation, recession, taxation, deficit spending, employment, education).

6.1.12.HistoryCC.13.c: Determine the impetus for the Civil Rights Movement and generate an evidence based argument that evaluates the federal actions taken to ensure civil rights for African Americans.

6.1.12.CivicsPI.14.c: Analyze how the Supreme Court has interpreted the Constitution to define and expand individual rights and use evidence to document the long-term impact of these decisions on the protection of civil and human rights.

6.1.12.HistoryCA.14.b: Create an evidence-based argument that assesses the effectiveness of actions taken to address the causes of continuing racial tensions and violence.

Compelling Questions:

• What were the causes of race riots in New Jersey in the 1960s?
• Was the Civil Rights movement successful in NJ?

Focus Questions:

• How did redlining contribute to de facto segregation in NJ?
• What is the difference between political and economic and social civil rights?
• To what extent have the conditions that led to the urban race riots in New Jersey and other cities in 1967 been addressed?

1. Historical Background

The Great Migration

During the Great Migration between 1900 and 1960, six million African-Americans moved from rural areas in the South to northern industrial cities. The primary push factors for migration were segregation, widespread violence and lynching and lack of opportunities in the South.  In the North, African Americans could also find better schools and jobs.

Aside from the availability of jobs and the general search for a better life, some African Americans settled in New Jersey because its cities were of a medium size, offering a somewhat slower urban pace than the great northern metropolises.  New Jersey’s cities also accommodated the spillover from the large migration to its two neighbors—New York City (Harlem in particular) and Philadelphia. 

The African-American population in New Jersey’s cities grew dramatically--especially in Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, Elizabeth and Trenton.  More than 100,000 African Americans looking for economic opportunities and relief from Jim Crow laws moved to Newark alone from the rural South. The Black population of Newark doubled from 1910 to 1920. 

The northern cities also attracted a record number of new immigrants from southern and eastern Europe between 1890 and 1920. Tensions arose between the African-Americans and the European immigrants as they competed for jobs and housing.  Newark witnessed a racial clash in 1917. Termed a “race riot” by the Newark Evening News, it was precipitated by a dispute arising from a dice game involving black and white youths and lasted several hours. Black and white mobs armed with revolvers, knives, bottles, clubs and bricks, fought each other. Many were injured and fifteen black youths were arrested.

Residential Segregation through Restrictive Deeds or Covenants

Although the U.S. Supreme Court held in 1917 in Buchanan v. Warley that a city ordinance prohibiting the sale of real property to blacks violated the Fourteenth Amendment, the practice of private, racially restrictive and legally binding covenants evolved as a reaction to the Great Migration of southern blacks.  The imposition of private restrictions on real estate is a concept that had been in use for centuries. At common law, the right to own and enjoy real estate was considered to include, as an element of ownership, the right to restrict how that property might be used in the future.  A restriction, such as “This lot shall be owned and occupied by people of the Caucasian race only," written into a deed to a home by a seller would require the new homebuyer to abstain from selling to certain categories of people.

For a century after the Civil War, such practices were legal and resulted in the exclusion of unwanted immigrant groups--but primarily African-Americans--from large parts of northern cities and towns, including many in New Jersey.  It was not until 1948 that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could not enforce such private racial restrictions. In 1968, Congress outlawed them altogether.

Residential Segregation through Redlining

After the outlawing of restrictive covenants, residential segregation was instead maintained through “redlining” by banks and insurance companies. Redlining is the practice by lenders of arbitrarily denying or limiting financial services to specific neighborhoods, generally because its residents are people of color or are poor. While discriminatory practices existed in the banking and insurance industries well before the 1930s, the New Deal’s Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC), created to stabilize real estate that had depreciated during the depression and to refinance urban mortgage debt, instituted a redlining policy by developing color-coded maps of American cities that used racial criteria to categorize lending and insurance risks. New, affluent, racially homogeneous housing areas received green lines while black and poor white neighborhoods were often circumscribed by red lines denoting their undesirability. Banks and insurers soon adopted the HOLC's maps and practices to guide lending and underwriting decisions.  In addition, although the HOLC was defunct by 1954, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), created in 1934, used the HOLC's methods to assess locations for federally insured new housing construction.

Without bank loans and insurance, redlined areas lacked the capital essential for investment and redevelopment. After World War II, the Federal Housing Administration guaranteed low-cost mortgages to returning soldiers. However, the FHA redlined nearly all of Newark, sending white soldiers and their families to almost exclusively white suburbs. As a result, suburban areas received preference for residential investment at the expense of poor and minority neighborhoods in cities like Newark and Chicago.

Newark by the 1960s

The African-American population in Newark, which was only 2.7% in 1900, grew to 17.1% by 1950.  From the 1950s to 1967, Newark’s white population shrank from 363,000 to 158,000, while its black population grew from 70,000 to 220,000. Despite the enormous reduction of Newark's white population, property ownership and political power remained overwhelmingly in white hands. For example, in 1960, while 60% of its population was black 83% of Newark’s police force was white.  In a 1966 application for federal aid, 40,000 of Newark’s 136,000 housing units were classified as substandard or dilapidated.

Activity 1: Definitions, Document Analysis and Class Discussion

1. Have students find the definitions for de jure and de facto segregation.

 “De Jure” is Latin and means according to law or by law. Discuss with students what they think this means in relation to segregation. Some ideas that may be mentioned are Jim Crow laws, such as segregated buses, restaurants and schools.  De jure segregation is segregation of a race, ethic or other group as required by law, as it was required in public accommodations such as training, buses, hotels, schools, etc., in most southern states after the Civil War until the 1950s. 

 “De Facto” means actual or in fact. Have students discuss how de facto segregation differs from de jure segregation. De facto segregation is segregation that happens in practice but is not required by law. De facto segregation was very prevalent in northern states until the 1950s. Ask students to give examples of de facto segregation.  Responses might be:  De facto segregation would include schools that are segregated because of a policy of having neighborhood schools where the housing pattern separates families by their income and creates wealthier and poorer neighborhoods, which are then reflected in the schools. Or de facto segregation might result from the selection of certain students for AP or honors courses, or even self-segregation by racial groups (e.g., students at lunch tables).

2. Have students analyze Handout 1 - Redlining Map, Essex County and draw conclusions about its impact.

Note the legend for  the “Residential Security Map” at the top of the page, with green as first grade, blue as second grade, yellow as third grade and red as fourth grade (grey areas are industrial and white areas are parklands).  Where are the blue and green areas? In Roseland, Caldwell, the Oranges (green strip in the middle). Where are the red areas? In Newark, primarily next to the industrial areas.

In a circular case of cause and effect, areas redlined because African-Americans and poor immigrants lived there left these residents unable to get bank loans and insurance, further cementing housing segregation and contributing to the economic plight of the city.

3. Ask students if redlining is de jure or de facto segregation and to explain their conclusion.

Some students may argue that redlining is de jure segregation because it was based on federal laws.  Other students may argue that it was de facto segregation because the intent of the HOLC was not to segregate and the actual refusals to provide mortgages and insurance was being done by private banks and insurance companies.

4. Have students look at Handout 2 - Federal Efforts to Eliminate Discrimination and decide whether or not redlining violated it, explaining their reasoning.

The 14^th Amendment mandates that states not “make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor…: deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Students may argue that African-Americans were being denied “equal protection of the laws” by redlining because they were not being given the same opportunities to purchase property, improve and enjoy property as wealthier white residents.

The Start of the Civil Rights Movement

Rosa Parks being fingerprinted after her arrest Dec. 1, 1955

Discrimination against African-Americans not only resulted in poorer housing, but also in poorer schools, jobs and treatment.  For decades the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) tried to address this through litigation, culminating in the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education declaring “separate but equal” schools unconstitutional. The decision was met with more opposition than compliance.  But it gave African-Americans a legal basis for their complaints of discrimination and the hope for change. Following the refusal of Rosa Parks to give up her seat on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in December 1955, the local African-American community was aroused by the Women’s Political Council and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to protest with their feet with a boycott of the city buses. Although the issue was ultimately resolved in the courts, the peaceful protest on the streets was brought to the attention of the nation through the news media. It showed that nonviolent, direct action could work. Out of the boycott an informal network of southern Baptist churches formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the American Civil Rights Movement took shape, aimed at pressuring the president and congress to address the continuing discrimination in the country.

Black students from area colleges led a sit-in at the Woolworth’s in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina in February 1960 to protest Woolworth's policy of excluding African Americans from being served food there.  This was quickly followed by nonviolent confrontations at public parks, beaches, libraries, theaters, museums, and other public facilities in the South; kneel-ins at local churches: and freedom rides.  Such actions often defied court-ordered injunctions barring the protests and resulted in mass arrests.   In August 1963, there was a mass March on Washington, D.C.-- a collaborative effort of all of the major civil rights organizations, the more progressive wing of the labor movement, and other liberal organizations. The march had six official goals: meaningful civil rights laws, a massive federal works program, full and fair employment, decent housing, the right to vote, and adequate integrated education.  In response, President Kennedy declared support for a comprehensive civil rights bill. After Kennedy’s assassination, President Johnson obtained passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (See Montgomery Bus Boycott | The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute)

Civil Rights March on the Mall, Washington, D.C., August 1963

Racial Violence in 1964-65

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Handout 2 - Federal Efforts to Eliminate Discrimination) was signed into law on July 2, 1964, banning discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.  But segregation remained the norm in most places. African-Americans and others who opposed segregation held “sit-ins” in cafes, restaurants and hotels, to protest discriminatory service and hiring practices. Segregationists, angered by the Civil Rights Act, took to the streets as well, often attacking African American demonstrations across the South. Racial violence broke out in many northern cities, including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Jersey City, and Paterson.

Riots began in Harlem, New York, on July 18, 1964, following the shooting of fifteen year-old James Powell by a white off-duty police officer.  Claiming that the incident was an act of police brutality, an estimated eight thousand Harlem residents launched a large-scale riot, breaking windows, setting fires and looting local businesses. The violence soon spread to the nearby neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant and continued for six days, resulting in the death of one resident, over 100 injuries, and more than 450 arrests.  As the civil unrest in New York City began to cool, another riot broke out upstate in Rochester, New York, following another allegation of police brutality. For three days, violent protestors overturned automobiles, burned buildings, and looted stores.  The National Guard was mobilized and public order was restored to Rochester on July 26.

A few days later, on August 2, 1964, a woman's arrest in a public housing complex in Jersey City, New Jersey, led to three days of rioting, during which garbage cans were thrown through storefront windows and bottles were tossed at police. The violence was eventually quelled, but the anger and frustration that caused it remained.  On August 11-13, 1964, Elizabeth, New Jersey, was the site of a three-day uprising. The New York Times reported that it was instigated by the arrest of a black woman on a disorderly conduct charge.  Eighteen people were arrested.  A separate clash occurred simultaneously in nearby Paterson, New Jersey.

Elizabeth policemen struggle with a man as they try to move him from area of rioting in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on August 12, 1964, the second night of violence in Elizabeth and Paterson, New Jersey (AP Photo)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) concluded that the disturbances in Elizabeth and Paterson were the aftershocks of the larger uprisings in New York City, Rochester, and Jersey City, citing “school dropouts,” “young punks,” “common hoodlums” and “drunken kids” as the ones responsible for the outbreak of violence.  While socioeconomic problems within the African American communities were considered to be a part of the problem, the FBI blamed the violence on a marked decrease in respect for law and order by young people in urban neighborhoods. The FBI concluded that issues such police brutality were not the cause of the uprisings in Elizabeth or elsewhere in the nation.  Although Elizabeth city officials agreed with this assessment, African American community leaders in Elizabeth saw the situation differently, citing high unemployment, poverty, discrimination, and the treatment of blacks by the police as the causes of the unrest.  With the two sides far apart on the reasons for the uprisings and violence in 1964, little was done in response.

The following summer, on August 11, 1965, violence erupted in the Watts section of South Central Los Angeles after the attempted arrest of a young black motorist by white police officers. A taunting crowd gathered and an increasing number of police reinforcements were called. The police arrested half a dozen men and women.  Angry young men charged down the main street, overturning cars, looting stores and burning buildings.  The rampage resumed each night and lasted for six days. More than 34 people were killed and 1000 injured, 4200 arrested and some $200 million worth of property was damaged or destroyed.

Two years after the 1965 riots in Watts, racial tensions erupted into violence in more than 150 cities, the two most well-known and destructive uprisings in Detroit and Newark. The main concerns expressed by African-Americans in Newark and other cities in the 1960s were police brutality, housing code violations, lack of community representation and lack of good jobs.  The killing of a black man, Lester Long, by Newark police officer Henry Martinez in 1965 reinvigorated community demands for a police review board. Newark mayor Hugh Addonizio directed the Newark Human Rights Commission to hold a series of public hearings on the issue, but when the Commission split 6-6, he rejected the proposed police review board. Instead he announced that future allegations of police brutality would be forwarded to the FBI, and instituted a citizen observer program, a Human Relations Training Institute, a community relations post within the police department and a code of conduct for the police. Newark tenants were encouraged to submit housing complaints to the city’s housing authorities. Although submitting these complaints to city agencies officially documented housing violations, it rarely compelled any action by city officials.

Newark Community Union March Against Police Brutality across Broad and Market Streets in Newark in 1965 (Doug Eldridge Collection, Newark Evening News)

As federal funding from antipoverty programs arrived in Newark, there was jockeying for control of the money.  In statements presented by members of the Newark Community Union Project to the Congressional Committee investigating the War on Poverty in April 1965, Newark residents described the lack of community representation and involvement in decision-making.  Many African-Americans, especially younger community leaders, felt that they were largely disenfranchised in Newark despite the fact that Newark had become one of the first majority back major cities in America. Newark Mayor Addonizio was charged with failing to incorporate blacks in civil leadership positions and failing to help blacks get better employment opportunities.  Only 154 of the 1322 police officers (11%) were black, while the city remained more than 50% black. 

1. The Race Riots in Newark in 1967

This unrest came to a head on July 12, 1967 when two white Newark policemen arrested a black cabdriver, John Smith, for improperly passing them and double-parking.  Smith was taken to the 4th Police Precinct, which was across the street from Hayes Homes, a large Public Housing Project. Residents of Hayes Homes saw an incapacitated Smith being dragged into the precinct, and a rumor was started that he had been killed while in police custody (In fact, Smith had been moved to a local hospital). This set off six days of riots, looting, violence, and destruction.  Within 48 hours the violence had gotten beyond the ability of the Newark police to control. A curfew was imposed between 10 p.m. and dawn. Mayor Addonizio requested that New Jersey Governor Hughes send the National Guard to Newark, which he did.   Ultimately, the violence left 26 people dead, 725 people injured, and close to 1,500 arrested. Property damage exceeded $10 million.

The Newark Riots on the front page of the New York Times, July 13, 1967

 

https://newark-path-manhattan.blogspot.com/2012/02/newarks-1967-race-riots.html

A series of racially charged violent disturbances mirroring those that took place in Newark also occurred 20 miles away in Plainfield, New Jersey, starting on July 14, 1967. It took the National Guard three days to restore order (See RACE RIOTS: History on Plainfield, NJ Jake Uprising 1967).

Activity 2:   What happened in Newark in July 1967?

1. Have students watch Revolution 67, a five-minute video of the 1967 Newark riots at Revolution '67 or at Riots in Newark New Jersey 1967and summarize what happened in their own words.
2. Have students consider the definitions of “riot” and “rebellion” and give examples of each. A “riot” is broadly any violent, public disturbance of the peace by a crowd. A “rebellion” is an act of violence or resistance against an established government or ruler. However, a civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property or people, is often characterized as a “riot”. The Civil Rights Movement (1955-68) was a form of rebellion against the systematic discrimination and disenfranchisement of African-Americans and the lack of opportunities for satisfactory housing and jobs.  It focused on planned nonviolent protests and civil disobedience, such as marches (e.g., Birmingham and Selma, 1965), sit-ins e.g., Greensboro, North Carolina, 1960) and economic boycotts (e.g., Montgomery, 1955-56). The disturbances in the cities were aimed at the same underlying problems but were unplanned and resulted in violence.
3. Have students explain why they would call the events in Newark in July 1967 a “riot” or a “rebellion”.

Why did the civil disturbances occur?

President Lyndon Johnson formed an 11-member National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders in July 1967 to understand why riots that plagued cities each summer since 1964 and to provide recommendations for the future. The Commission’s 1968 report, informally known as the Kerner Commission Report (the Commission was chaired by Otto Kerner, the Governor of Illinois), determined that the civil disturbances usually started at night, without premeditation or planning, and were triggered by an incident between black residents and white police, which escalated to looting and burning. The report concluded that the overriding causes of the rioting—unemployment, poverty, lack of education, exploitation—were rooted in a pervasive white sense of the inferiority of blacks.  The Kerner Commission Report delivered an indictment against “white society” for isolating and neglecting African Americans and recommended legislation to create jobs, job training programs, and decent housing.  It cautioned that the nation was “moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal.” Unless conditions were remedied, the Commission warned, the country faced a “system of ’apartheid’” in its major cities. President Johnson, however, did not immediately seek to implement the recommendations.  (See Handout 3:  Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders ).

New Jersey’s Governor Hughes also appointed an independent commission to investigate the 1967 riots in Newark.  Chaired by Robert Lilley, the commission held 65 meetings and examined 106 witnesses. The New Jersey Governor's Select Commission on Civil Disorder (the Lilley or Hughes Commission) made similar recommendations about the need for police and economic reform in its Report for Action - nj.com. The Commission noted that more than a third of black men ages 16 to 19 were unemployed.  It made specific recommendations for police and economic reform similar to the Kerner Commission (See Handout 4: Report for Action: An Investigation into the Causes and Events of the 1967 Newark Race Riots).

Activity 3:  Why did the civil disturbances in 1967 happen?

Have students read the summary of the Report of the Handout 3 -National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders and Handout 4 - Report for Action: New Jersey Governor's Select Commission on Civil Disorder and discuss the following questions or write an essay responding to the following questions:

1. Why did people riot or rebel in 1967?
2. Was it justifiable? 
3. Was it a type of political action?
4. Life Magazine (July 28, 1967) called the civil disturbance in Newark in July 1967, “the Predictable insurrection”.  Would you agree or disagree? Why?

III.   Progress in the 1960s and 1970s

Poor People’s Campaign:  The Move to Achieve Economic Civil Rights

In response to black rioting in 180 cities during the summer of 1967, Reverend Martin Luther King said, "the riot is the language of the unheard... America has failed to hear... that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met."  In 1967, one in seven Americans was living in poverty.  Activist Marian Wright suggested to King that the civil rights movement stage a poor people's march--"a nonviolent army of the poor"-- in Washington, D.C.  The Southern Christian Leadership Conference embarked on an ambitious Poor People's Campaign to bring attention to the nation's most needy people. The goal was to   demand that President Lyndon Johnson and Congress help the poor get jobs, health care and decent homes.

On March 27, 1968, King spoke to a packed auditorium of students at South Side High School in Newark and visited the Mt. Calvary Baptist Church and Abyssinian Baptist Church in Newark, as well as stopping in Orange and Jersey City.  King then detoured to Memphis, Tennessee, to support striking sanitation workers. There, on April 4, 1968, he was assassinated. Riots erupted in more than 100 cities around the country as people mourned the loss of Martin Luther King, Jr. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference pressed forward with the Poor People's Campaign just weeks later, and more than a thousand people came to Washington, D.C. on May 12, 1968. Many thousands more arrived and settled on the National Mall in an encampment they called "Resurrection City" during late May and early June 1968. However, the protest was bogged down by heavy rains and unclear agendas. On June 5, 1968 word came that presidential candidate Robert Kennedy, a champion of civil rights, had been assassinated in California. In recognition of the poor people's protest, the hearse bearing Kennedy's body was brought through the encampment in Washington. But soon, Resurrection City was shut down.  (For additional information see City of Hope: Marking 50 years since Resurrection City and Resurrection City and the Poor People’s Campaign: MLK's final protest)

During 1966-1967, Congress had regularly considered a fair housing bill, but failed to garner a majority for its passage. President Lyndon Johnson utilized the tragedy of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination to urge Congress to speedily approve what became the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 is also known as the Fair Housing Act of 1968. It outlawed discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, sex, (and was amended in 1988 to include disability and family status) and authorized the Justice Department to bring suits on behalf of victims in federal district courts. This was supported by the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975, which required the release of data on bank lending, and the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, which required banks to lend in areas from which they accepted deposits.

The extent of progress in ending redlining in the insurance industry remained an ongoing debate. In 1968, the President's National Advisory Panel on Insurance in Riot-Affected Areas found that insurance underwriting manuals explicitly instructed agents to use racial data in determining risk. While states passed laws prohibiting insurance redlining, federal legislation has never directly addressed the issue. Court cases, however, have forced change in both the banking and insurance industries. In the 1990s, prominent banks and insurance firms settled several major lawsuits, agreeing to change their business practices to remove discriminatory policies and procedures.

In New Jersey, the nation’s first state-wide civil rights enforcement statute, “The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination,” had been enacted in 1945. It made it unlawful to subject people to differential treatment based on race, creed, color, national origin, nationality, ancestry, age, or sex (NJSA 10:5-12).

In spite of state and federal laws, discrimination continued in more subtle ways.  A real estate broker may “forget” to show an African American family house in certain areas. A bank may decline to provide a mortgage.  More importantly, low and moderate income families—often minorities—often do not have the funds to purchase homes in areas with satisfactory housing, schools and services because zoning ordinances made it impossible to build low and moderate income housing.

In 1974, the Housing and Community Development Act authorized the creation of a Community Development Block Grant program in the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, both as an anti-poverty program and responding to the need for affordable housing. The program provides funds to state, counties and cities on a formula basis to create additional low and moderate-income housing.  However, affordable housing has never been declared a constitutional requirement for cities and states.

 In New Jersey, the State Supreme Court held in 1975 in South Burlington County N.A.A.C.P. v. Township of Mount Laurel, 67 NJ 151(Mt. Laurel I), that zoning ordinances which make it physically and economically impossible to provide low and moderate income housing  violated the New Jersey Constitution.  Eight years later in 1983, the New Jersey State Supreme Court put teeth in the original decision by creating a fair share formula to measure each municipality's obligation to provide affordable housing, and by fashioning a "builder's remedy" to force municipalities to fulfill that obligation. Accepting the premise that there was a constitutional obligation for municipalities to foster the development of some degree of affordable housing, the state created a Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) to establish regulations whereby the obligation of each municipality in terms of the number of units and how the obligation could be satisfied.

Activity 4:  How effective have efforts by the federal and state governments to eliminate discrimination been? 

1. Ask students to distinguish and explain the differences between political, economic and social civil rights.

Political (often called “civil”) rights are focused on the ability to participate in government through the right to vote and to hold office, as well as freedom of speech and the right to a fair trial. Such civil or political rights are explicitly guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution in the First, Fifth-Eighth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. However, Articles I and II of the U.S. Constitution leave the regulation of elections to the states. The Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 are attempts by the federal government to ensure that African Americans (and other groups discriminated against) can participate in electing those to represent them in government.

Economic and social rights are focused on the daily needs of life, such as jobs, housing, education, travel, food, health care and sanitation.  Social, economic and cultural rights are protected in the International Declaration of Human Rights (1948). However, this document is basically aspirational only and has no enforcement mechanism other than public pressure. Economic, social and cultural rights are not specifically included in the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Supreme Court has not interpreted the Constitution to include them.  Human needs for adequate education, housing and food have been seen as "benefits" rather than rights by the U.S. Supreme Court, leaving individuals with no legal claims to fundamental things like food and shelter from the federal government.   .

2. Ask students to look at the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Civil Rights Acts of 1968 (Handout 5), the NJ Law Against Discrimination and NJ Constitution (Handout 6) and to analyze the role of the federal and state governments in eliminating discrimination.  

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was enacted to break the grip of state disfranchisement of African-Americans.  During the hearings on its extension, Congress heard extensive testimony concerning the ways in which voting electorates were manipulated through gerrymandering, annexations, adoption of at-large elections, and other structural changes to prevent newly-registered black voters from effectively using the ballot. Congress also heard extensive testimony about voting discrimination that had been suffered by Hispanic, Asian and Native American citizens. Beginning in 1980, however, the U.S. Supreme Court began to require that any constitutional claim of minority vote dilution must include proof of a racially discriminatory purpose, a requirement that was widely seen as making such claims far more difficult to prove.  In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the requirement that jurisdictions that have a history of discriminatory voting practices get advance approval from the federal government before changing their election laws (Shelby Co. v. Holder), reducing the protection of racial and language minority citizens against losing the opportunity to exercise their right to vote, or to have their votes diluted.  Several states have put more restrictive voting laws in place.

The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, first enacted in 1945 and updated through 2007, prohibits unlawful discrimination in employment, housing, places of public accommodation, credit and business contracts. New Jersey also has been in the forefront in terms of providing equal funding for local education.  The New Jersey Constitution provides that:  “The Legislature shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of free public schools for the instruction of all the children in the State between the ages of five and eighteen years” (Art. VIII, Sec. IV, para 1).  This has led to a series of lawsuits that resulted in equalizing funding for New Jersey’s school districts, which has provided financial support for the public schools in urban districts. However, the New Jersey’s schools are highly segregated (For additional information see School Segregation in the Garden State? - New Jersey State Bar Foundation)

1. Was the Civil Rights movement successful?

After the acquittal in the trial of the four white Los Angeles police officers indicted in the beating of Rodney King, a black driver pulled over in northern Los Angeles in March 1991, riots began in a black neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles and destruction, looting and burning of businesses quickly spread to other areas of the city, including areas that were mostly Latino and Korean. Some 2300 people were injured and more than 1000 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Police made 10,000 arrests, mostly males, many Hispanic.

The underlying causes seemed to be police brutality, high unemployment, failed education, racism, neglect of the inner city—the same causes identified years earlier in the Kerner Commission report. However, the fuse seemed to be lit by the ethnic, racial and class antagonisms in Los Angeles at the time, particularly grievances against Korean merchants by poorer Black and Hispanic residents. Efforts to build coalitions led to changes in the leadership in Los Angeles. Although South Central Los Angeles remains one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, violent crime and unemployment are both lower in Los Angeles than they were in 1990.

Although the 1992 riots in Los Angeles were one of the worst civil disturbances in America in decades, they did not spread to other cities. No similar violence erupted afterwards in any other major cities in 1992.

In 2015, after years of pressure from civil rights groups, the Obama administration established a federal housing rule to fully implement the 1968 Fair Housing Act’s goal of forbidding discrimination in housing by requiring communities to affirmatively address patterns of racial residential segregation—the first major commitment to address racial inequality in housing in decades. However, in 2018, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under President Trump suspended until 2020 the requirement that communities analyze their housing segregation and submit plans to reserves it as a condition of receiving billions of federal dollars in block grants and housing aid. HUD contended that local communities were struggling to figure out how to measure their progress and needed more time and technical assistance. Republicans in Congress critical of the rule argued that it was an aggressive intrusion by the federal government into individual and community decisions about where to live. (For additional information see Trump Administration Postpones an Obama Fair-Housing Rule - The New York Times)

Newark today

For decades Newark has been a symbol of America's decaying cities with violence, entrenched poverty, vanishing jobs, struggling schools and blighted blocks. The flight of the city’s white population, which had begun with the advent of the highway system and the rise of the suburbs in the 1950s, intensified with the unrest in 1967 and the negative view of the city. In 1996, Money magazine ranked Newark "The Most Dangerous City in the Nation."  Yet, slowly but steadily, Newark has been transforming itself into a hub for arts and higher education with bustling ethnic neighborhoods.  In 2007, the crime rate in the city began to drop and has been declining each year since then.  Newark’s population fell from a height of 438,000 in 1950 to a low of 275,221 in 1990.  However, since the turn of the 21st century, Newark’s population began to grow and was at 278,783 in 2015. It has also gotten more diverse:  the white population grew to 26.31%, the Black population decreased to 52.35%, the Hispanic population grew to 33.83% and the foreign-born population increased by 85% since 1970 from 40,104 to 74,305 in 2010.

By 2020, the population of Newark has increased to 311,549. It was 28% white, 50% African American and 36% Hispanic. The population was 31.8% foreign born, and the median income was $35,199. (See https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/newarkcitynewjersey%20).

Port Newark-Elizabeth is the primary container shipping terminal of the busiest seaport on the American East Coast.  Newark Liberty International Airport, the first municipal commercial airport in the United States, is one of its busiest.  Several leading companies have their headquarters in Newark, including Prudential, PSEG, Panasonic Corporation, Audible.com, and IDT Corporation. More than 100,000 people commute to Newark each workday, making it the state's largest employment center with many white-collar jobs in insurance, finance, import-export, health-care, and government.  As a major courthouse venue including federal, state, and county facilities, it is home to more than 1,000 law firms. The city is also a "college town", with nearly 50,000 students attending the city's universities and medical and law schools. Local cultural venues include the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark Symphony Hall, The Prudential Center and the Newark Museum.

Skyline of downtown Newark as seen from across the river in Harrison, NJ, in 2016.

However, five of the previous seven mayors of Newark have been indicted on criminal charges, including Hugh Addonizio, the son of Italian immigrants who served from 1962 to 1970; Kenneth Gibson, the first African American mayor of Newark who served 1970-86, and Sharpe James, who served 1986-2006. In addition to political corruption, Newark has been plagued by ineffective schools, with low levels of   student  academic performance and low graduation rates, neglected buildings, and charges of mismanagement, nepotism, cronyism and rampant political interference.  The Newark Public Schools were taken over by the State of New Jersey in 1995, which resulted in the state appointing the school superintendent.  After many years, the schools began showing some improvements in student performance, and local control was restored in 2017. While the public schools in Newark have improved with the expansion of magnet and charter schools with several Newark high schools having graduation rates of more than 90%; many of Newark’s 16 high schools have graduation rates of 70% or less. (See Newark Public School District - U.S. News Education

In spite of the influx of development in Newark, not everyone has benefitted. There is a widening disparity between the places where gleaming towers have risen and where opportunity has not yet arrived. Poverty in Newark is still well above the national average. Only 18% of people who hold jobs in Newark live there.  The unemployment rate, which reached a high of 18%  in 1992, was down to 7.4% for 2017 as compared with the rate in New Jersey (4 to 5%) in 2017 or nationally (4.1 to 4.8%). https://www.homefacts.com/unemployment/New-Jersey/Essex-County/Newark.html

In 2015, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka created the city’s first citizen complaint review board in response to a damning report by the U.S.  Department of Justice. The board's 11 members are empowered to review police misconduct allegations and make sure that discipline is administered when it occurs.  They would be able to conduct an independent investigation on cases brought before them, and to summon the officers facing the allegations to a formal hearing. The board would issue a determination as to whether an act of misconduct occurred, which will be forwarded to the city's police chief, who would issue a final decision on punishment using a so-called "discipline matrix" that creates guidelines for certain offenses and their severity. Most other cities do not have this power. The Newark Fraternal Order of Police promptly brought the issue to the courts arguing that the board’s authority undermines the Newark police department’s disciplinary process. This resulted in a court injunction restricting the use of subpoena and investigatory powers by Newark's civilian police review board, drawing  the ire of activists who say those powers -- long questioned by police union officials -- are necessary tools. (“Court order leaves Newark police review board toothless, activists say.” The Star ledger, Dec. 16, 2016 at  https://www.nj.com/essex/2016/12/injunction_against_newark_police_review_board_prom.html

Continuing Poverty and Inequality in the U.S.

In 1968, 25 million people — nearly 13% of the population of the United States — were living below the poverty level, according to the Census Bureau.  By 2006, this had been slightly reduced to 12% of the population.  The recession in 2008-09 increased the number of those living below the poverty line to 14.3% of the U.S. population, but by 2016 this level had been reduced to 12.7%—approximately where we had been in 1968. However, the rate of poverty among African-Americans is more than twice that of whites (See chart below, “Poverty rates by race/ethnicity and metro-nonmetro residence, 2015”). Poverty is also more pronounced in the South than the northeast (See chart below, “Poverty rates by region and metro/nonmetro status, 2011-2015”). Interestingly, although the civil disturbances were all in cities in the 1960s, the poverty rate is higher in non-metropolitan areas.

The “Black Lives Matter” Movement

The problem of police responses to confrontations with African American men has continued into the 21^st century with the lack of prosecution of police officers involved resulting in civil disturbances, including protests that erupted in  Ferguson, Missouri after the shooting of Michael Brown by police officers  and protests in New York City after a grand jury refused to indict a police officer in the death of Eric Garner in 2014; days of protest in Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray in 2015; protests and riots in response to the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, North Carolina  in 2016. These incidents have all led to the movement, “Black Lives Matter”. (See  Timeline: The Black Lives Matter movement - ABC News.

The Black Lives Matters movement is the 21^st century version of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Instead of having charismatic leaders such as the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. unifying and pressing the demands of African-Americans, there are many voices with varying interests.

Activity 6: Assessing the success of the civil rights movement in New Jersey and nationally

Consider the poverty charts and gather other data about how African-Americans and other minority groups in Newark are doing today. Consider whether the civil rights movement in New Jersey has attained its goals. Draw a conclusion and support it with evidence.

Activity 7: What do you think? What would you do?

1. Class discussion or individual essay: Do you agree or disagree with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? With Barbara Ransby? With Elizabeth Hasselback? Why or why not?
2. Class discussion or individual essay: How has the approach to gain civil rights changed since the 1960s? Do you think this approach will be more or less likely to succeed?
3. Small group activity: in groups of 3-5, create a specific agenda—a list of exactly what you think needs to be changed and how this can be achieved.

“This fist-shaking of everyone’s racial agenda distracts America from the larger issue that the targets of police overreaction are based less on skin color and more on an even worse Ebola-level affliction: being poor. Of course, to many in America, being a person of color is synonymous with being poor, and being poor is synonymous with being a criminal. Ironically, this misperception is true even among the poor.  …Worse, certain politicians and entrepreneurs conspire to keep the poor just as they are. On his HBO comedic news show Last Week Tonight, John Oliver ran an expose of the payday loan business and those who so callously exploit the desperation of the poor. How does an industry that extorts up to 1,900 percent interest on loans get away with it? In Texas, State Rep. Gary Elkins blocked a regulatory bill, despite the fact that he owns a chain of payday loan stores. And the politician who kept badgering Elkins about his conflict of interest, Rep. Vicki Truitt, became a lobbyist for ACE Cash Express just 17 days after leaving office. In essence, Oliver showed how the poor are lured into such a loan, only to be unable to pay it back and having to secure yet another loan. The cycle shall be unbroken. …The multitude of millionaires and billionaires who lobby to reduce food stamps, give no relief to the burden of student debt on our young, and kill extensions of unemployment benefits. The middle class has to join the poor and whites have to join African-Americans in mass demonstrations, in ousting corrupt politicians, in boycotting exploitative businesses, in passing legislation that promotes economic equality and opportunity, and in punishing those who gamble with our financial future.”(“The Coming Race War Won’t be about Race,” by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Time Magazine, Aug. 17, 2014, at Ferguson: The Coming Race War Won’t Be About Race

Fox News host Elizabeth Hasselbeck asked why Black Lives Matter has not been labeled as a “hate group” on the morning show “Fox and Friends”.  Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, a civil-rights leader, WND columnist said: “Without a doubt, Black Lives Matter is a hate group,” Peterson told WND. “If a white group was encouraging violence and targeting police, they would be rightfully labeled a ‘hate group’ by the mainstream media and by far-left groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center and People For the American Way.” See Black Lives Matter under fire as a 'hate group' * WorldNetDaily * by WND Staff

“When people on the ground make decisions, articulate problems and come up with answers, the results are more likely to meet real needs. And that’s more sustainable in the long run: People are better prepared to carry out solutions they themselves created, instead of ones handed down by national leaders unfamiliar with realities in local communities. Such local work allows people to take ownership of the political struggles that affect their lives.” (“Black Lives Matter Is Democracy in Action,” by Barbara Ransby, in The New York Times Opinion, Oct. 21, 2017 at Opinion | Black Lives Matter Is Democracy in Action - The New York Times.

 

Handout 1:  Redlining Map, Essex County, NJ HOLC-MED.jpg

Handout 2: Federal Efforts to Eliminate Discrimination

Fourteenth Amendment, U.S. Constitution

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

An Act To enforce the constitutional right to vote, to confer jurisdiction upon the district courts of the United States to provide injunctive relief against discrimination in public accommodations, to authorize the Attorney General to institute suits to protect constitutional rights in public facilities and public education, to extend the Commission on Civil Rights, to prevent discrimination in federally assisted programs, to establish a Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity, and for other purposes.

 

Handout 3:  Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (The “Kerner” Commission Report)  February 29, 1968

SUMMARY OF REPORT

The summer of 1967 again brought racial disorders to American cities, and with them shock, fear and bewilderment to the nation.

The worst came during a two-week period in July, first in Newark and then in Detroit. Each set off a chain reaction in neighboring communities.

On July 28, 1967, the President of the United States established this Commission and directed us to answer three basic questions:

What happened?

Why did it happen?

What can be done to prevent it from happening again?

To respond to these questions, we have undertaken a broad range of studies and investigations. We have visited the riot cities; we have heard many witnesses; we have sought the counsel of experts across the country.

This is our basic conclusion: Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white--separate and unequal.

Reaction to last summer's disorders has quickened the movement and deepened the division. Discrimination and segregation have long permeated much of American life; they now threaten the future of every American.

This deepening racial division is not inevitable. The movement apart can be reversed. Choice is still possible. Our principal task is to define that choice and to press for a national resolution.

To pursue our present course will involve the continuing polarization of the American community and, ultimately, the destruction of basic democratic values.

The alternative is not blind repression or capitulation to lawlessness. It is the realization of common opportunities for all within a single society.

This alternative will require a commitment to national action--compassionate, massive and sustained, backed by the resources of the most powerful and the richest nation on this earth. From every American it will require new attitudes, new understanding, and, above all, new will.

The vital needs of the nation must be met; hard choices must be made, and, if necessary, new taxes enacted.

Violence cannot build a better society. Disruption and disorder nourish repression, not justice. They strike at the freedom of every citizen. The community cannot--it will not--tolerate coercion and mob rule.

Violence and destruction must be ended--in the streets of the ghetto and in the lives of people.

Segregation and poverty have created in the racial ghetto a destructive environment totally unknown to most white Americans.

What white Americans have never fully understood but what the Negro can never forget--is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it.

It is time now to turn with all the purpose at our command to the major unfinished business of this nation. It is time to adopt strategies for action that will produce quick and visible progress. It is time to make good the promises of American democracy to all citizens-urban and rural, white and black, Spanish-surname, American Indian, and every minority group.

Our recommendations embrace three basic principles:

* To mount programs on a scale equal to the dimension of the problems:

* To aim these programs for high impact in the immediate future in order to close the gap between promise and performance;

* To undertake new initiatives and experiments that can change the system of failure and frustration that now dominates the ghetto and weakens our society.

These programs will require unprecedented levels of funding and performance, but they neither probe deeper nor demand more than the problems which called them forth. There can be no higher priority for national action and no higher claim on the nation's conscience.

Source: The Eisenhower Foundation

 

Handout 4: Report for Action: An Investigation into the Causes and Events of the 1967 Newark Race Riots by New Jersey Governor's Select Commission on Civil Disorder (the Lilley or Hughes Commission) at https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/69748NCJRS.pdf

FINDINGS (pages 143-144)

 1. The Newark City Administration did not adequately realize the bitterness in important sectors of the Negro community over the Administration's policies and conduct in the u,edical school and Parker-Callaghan controversies. The Administration did not seem to understand that political support by large numbers of Negroes in past municipal elections was not a guarantee against disaffection and disappointment over specific issues of direct and deep interest to Negroes. This reflects a serious lack of communication between established authority and the black community, which is one of the prime ills of Newark.

2. There was virtually a complete breakdown in the relations between the police and the Negro community prior to the disorders, and there is no evidence that there has been any improvement since July. Distrust, resentment and bitterness were at a high level on both sides, and there was no evidence of any significant improvement in this vital area when the Commission ended its hearings late in 1967.

3. Pre-riot planning by the Newark Police Department was inadequate. The department did not have sufficient resources for riot control, and it had not prepared a plan of operations for coping with the possibility of large-scale disorders.

4. Those who passed out leaflets and called for a rally on the evening of Thursday, July 13, in front of the Fourth Precinct, following the night of the Smith arrest, showed poor judgment. In the light of the high state of tension in the community, a rally was far more likely to lead to disorder than to nonviolent protest.

5. The Administration of the City of Newark was too hesitant to request State Police assistance, despite the views of high officers in the Newark Police Department that such aid was needed. Had aid been requested earlier, the rioting might have been contained more quickly and effectively.

 6. Once assistance was requested, the State responded promptly and with adequate forces. However, due to the absence of an adequate plan for the control of disorders setting forth the command structure among the various law enforcement elements, delays and other problems arose that inhibited the effectiveness of the overall effort.

7. The inability of the various police forces to broadcast over one another's radio frequencies created major communications problems. The absence of a single radio communications channel for all police forces hampered the performance of all riot-control elements.

 8. The amount of ammunition expended by police forces was out of all proportion LO the mission assigned to them. All police forces lacked an adequate system of ammunition control. No proper procedures had been established for dispensing and accounting for the expenditure of ammunition. The use of personal weapons by members of the Newark Police Department created special problems in this area and should be condemned.

9. The technique of employing heavy return fire at suspected sniper locations proved tragic and costly. 10. The heavy firing by police elements against suspected snipers makes it difficult to determine the extensiveness of sniping. There may have been some organized sniping activity once the riot had reached its Friday peak.

11. There is evidence of prejudice against Negroes during the riot on the part of various police and National Guard elements. This resulted in the use of excessive and unjustified force and other abuses against Negro citizens.

12. The damage caused within a few hours early Sunday morning, July 16, to a large number of stores marked with "Soul" signs to depict non-white ownership and located in 143 a limited area reflects a pattern of police action for which there is no possible justification. Testimony strongly suggests that State Police elements were mainly responsible with some participation by National Guardsmen. These raids resulted in personal suffering and economic damage to innocent small businessmen and property owners who have a stake in law and order and who had not participated in any unlawful act. It embittered the Negro community as a whole at a time when the disorders had begun to ebb.

13. The evidence: presented to the Commission does not support the thesis of a “conspiracy" or plan to initiate the Newark riot.

RECOMMENDATIONS (pages 162-175 )

A. Urban Problems:  POLITICAL

I. The resources of Newark and urban centers of the State are no longer adequate to to cope with the current crises that afflict them. Therefore, the administration and financing of certain basic services, such as the police, should be consolidated throughout Essex County. Financial incentives should be provided which are designed to encourage consolidation of services as speedily as possible. However, such financial and administrative consolidation should in no way conflict with effective delivery of service and community involvement at the neighborhood level. Some Commissioners, while they approve this recommendation, believe that it falls short of what is required in the present circumstances. They believe that the very structure of municipal government in New Jersey, with revenue raising, zoning and planning functions fragmented among 567 municipalities and 578 school districts, is the largest contributing factor to the urban problems outlined in this report. They believe that the power of local municipalities to adopt restrictive land use patterns, which exclude lower income people while attracting industrial and commercial ratables, contributes substantially not only to the inability of the older cities to finance essential services, but also to the steady increase of segregated urban housing and education. In their view consolidation of municipalities and school districts, and regionalized zoning and planning are the essential first steps toward any permanent relief of these parallel sources of urban tension. They fear that if legislative action is not taken to break down the legally condoned barriers which have largely confined the Negro to the older cities these centers of segregation will, despite well intentioned remedial action, become increasingly ungovernable. They recommend legislation, granting State financial incentives to encourage consolidation of municipalities and school districts, and requiring regional zoning and planning are the essential first steps toward any permanent relief of these parallel sources of urban tension. They fear that if legislative action is not taken to break down the legally condoned barriers which have largely confined the Negro to the older cities these centers of segregation will, despite well intentioned remedial action, become increasingly ungovernable. They recommend legislation, granting State financial incentives to encourage consolidation of municipalities and school districts, and requiring regional control over zoning and planning. Some Commissioners feel that many municipalities which are now seeking to build new sources of strength and vitality will be deprived of their ability to do so through political consolidation. Therefore, they advocate consolidation of services as a practical and realizable step at this time.

II. To help relieve the feeling of Negro powerlessness, both political parties should support the emergence of more Negro candidates and should encourage active participation of Negroes of all economic levels in the political process. In any reorganization of the governmental structure, care should be taken to achieve districting with a make-up that will provide opportunity for adequate Negro representation. Efforts to reapportion or redistrict should avoid gerrymandering that favors whites, and districts should so be arranged as to give areas with a heavy nonwhite population an opportunity to be responsively represented.

III. The Commission "recommends that a special grand jury be called to investigate allegations of corruption in Newark.”

There were also extensive, specific recommendations regarding police-community relations, the municipal court, economics, housing, employment, public schools, welfare and antipoverty programs.

 

Handout 5: Federal Government Efforts to End Discrimination in Housing

Fair Housing Act (Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968)

Prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental and financing of dwellings based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (12 U.S.C. 2901)

Intended to encourage depository institutions to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they operate, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, consistent with safe and sound operations. Requires that each depository institution's record in helping meet the credit needs of its entire community be evaluated by the appropriate Federal financial supervisory agency periodically. Members of the public may submit comments on a bank's performance, which will be taken into consideration during the next CRA examination. A bank's CRA performance record is taken into account in considering an institution's application for deposit facilities. The regulation was substantially revised in May 1995 and updated again in August 2005.

 

Handout 6:  State Efforts to Reduce Discrimination

The 2025 New Jersey Revised Statutes :: Title 10 - Civil Rights :: Section 10:5-12 - Unlawful employment practices, discrimination. makes it unlawful to subject people to differential treatment based on race, creed, color, national origin, nationality, ancestry, age, sex (including pregnancy), familial status, marital status, domestic partnership or civil union status, affectional or sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, atypical hereditary cellular or blood trait, genetic information, liability for military service, and mental or physical disability, perceived disability, and AIDS and HIV status.

The Law Against Discrimination, first enacted in 1945 and updated through 2007, prohibits unlawful discrimination in employment, housing, places of public accommodation, credit and business contracts.

 

Handout 7:  Poverty rates, 2015

Handout 8: Readings, Drawing Conclusions, Taking Action

“This fist-shaking of everyone’s racial agenda distracts America from the larger issue that the targets of police overreaction are based less on skin color and more on an even worse Ebola-level affliction: being poor. Of course, to many in America, being a person of color is synonymous with being poor, and being poor is synonymous with being a criminal. Ironically, this misperception is true even among the poor.  …Worse, certain politicians and entrepreneurs conspire to keep the poor just as they are. On his HBO comedic news show Last Week Tonight, John Oliver ran an expose of the payday loan business and those who so callously exploit the desperation of the poor. How does an industry that extorts up to 1,900 percent interest on loans get away with it? In Texas, State Rep. Gary Elkins blocked a regulatory bill, despite the fact that he owns a chain of payday loan stores. And the politician who kept badgering Elkins about his conflict of interest, Rep. Vicki Truitt, became a lobbyist for ACE Cash Express just 17 days after leaving office. In essence, Oliver showed how the poor are lured into such a loan, only to be unable to pay it back and having to secure yet another loan. The cycle shall be unbroken. …The multitude of millionaires and billionaires who lobby to reduce Food Stamps, give no relief to the burden of student debt on our young, and kill extensions of unemployment benefits. The middle class has to join the poor and whites have to join African-Americans in mass demonstrations, in ousting corrupt politicians, in boycotting exploitative businesses, in passing legislation that promotes economic equality and opportunity, and in punishing those who gamble with our financial future.”(“The Coming Race War Won’t be about Race,” by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Time Magazine, Aug. 17, 2014, at Ferguson: The Coming Race War Won’t Be About Race

Fox News host Elizabeth Hasselbeck asked why Black Lives Matter has not been labeled as a “hate group” on the morning show “Fox and Friends”.  Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, a civil-rights leader, WND columnist said: “Without a doubt, Black Lives Matter is a hate group,” Peterson told WND. “If a white group was encouraging violence and targeting police, they would be rightfully labeled a ‘hate group’ by the mainstream media and by far-left groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center and People For the American Way.” See Black Lives Matter under fire as a 'hate group' * WorldNetDaily * by WND Staff

“When people on the ground make decisions, articulate problems and come up with answers, the results are more likely to meet real needs. And that’s more sustainable in the long run: People are better prepared to carry out solutions they themselves created, instead of ones handed down by national leaders unfamiliar with realities in local communities. Such local work allows people to take ownership of the political struggles that affect their lives.” (“Black Lives Matter Is Democracy in Action,” by Barbara Ransby, in The New York Times Opinion, Oct. 21, 2017 at Opinion | Black Lives Matter Is Democracy in Action - The New York Times.

1. Do you agree or disagree with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? With Barbara Ransby? With Elizabeth Hasselback? Why or why not?
2. How has the approach to gain civil rights changed since the 1960s? Do you think this approach will be more or less likely to succeed?
3. In small groups of 3-5, create a specific agenda—a list of exactly what you think needs to be changed and how this can be achieved.

Alice Paul, Sep. 3, 1920

LC-USZ62-20176

Lesson Creator: Kathleen Corcione, Lacey Township Public Schools

Grade Level: Secondary

Objectives: Students will be able to:

• Develop a better understanding and appreciation of the women’s suffrage movement by understanding the goals of the mid-19th century and the early 20th century.
• Compare and contrast the differences, goals and strategies betweenthe National Woman's Party and the National Association for the Suffrage of Women.
• Recognize the role of war in helping implement the 19th amendment.
• What was the 19th amendment and why was the timing of its ratification significant to its passage?
• Explain the effects of the women’s reform movement of the mid to late 1800’s

New Jersey Student Learning Standards for Social Studies (2020):

6.1.8.CivicsDP.3.a:Use primary and secondary sources to assess whether or not the ideals found in the Declaration of Independence were fulfilled for women, African Americans, and Native Americans during this time period.

6.1.8.CivicsHR.4.a: Examine sources from a variety of perspectives to describe efforts to reform education, women’s rights, slavery, and other issues during the Antebellum period.

6.1.8.HistoryUP.5.b: Examine the roles of women, African Americans, and Native Americans in the Civil War

6.1.12.CivicsDP.6.a: Use a variety of sources from multiple perspectives to document the ways in which women organized to promote government policies designed to address injustice, inequality, and workplace safety (i.e., abolition, women’s suffrage, and the temperance movement).

6.1.12.CivicsDP.4.b: Analyze how ideas found in key documents contributed to demanding equality for all (i.e., the Declaration of Independence, the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Gettysburg Address).

6.1.12.HistoryCC.6.d: Analyze the successes and failures of efforts to expand women’s rights, including the work of important leaders and the eventual ratification of the 19th Amendment (i.e., Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, and Lucy Stone).

6.1.12.EconNM.7.a: Assess the immediate and long-term impact of women and African Americans entering the work force in large numbers during World War I.

Common Core Standard (ELA 2016):

R.I.7.1: Cite several pieces of textural evidence and make relevant connections to support analysis of what text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

R.I.7.3: Analyze the interactions between individuals, events and ideas in a text.

R.I.7.6: Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author distinguishes his or her position from that of others.

R.I.7.8: Trace and evaluate the arguments and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient to support the claims.

R.I.7.9: Analyze and reflect on how two or more authors writing about the same topic shape their presentations of key information by emphasizing different evidence or advancing different interpretations of facts.

Essential Questions:

• What were the reasons given in favor of and against women’s suffrage?
• What attitudes and beliefs obstructed the progress of the women’s suffrage movement?
• What strategies did women use to win the right to vote?
• How did the NAWSA and the NWP differ in strategies in achieving women’s right to vote?
• How did suffragists use imagery to create a powerful political presence in the American mind?
• How did women bring about acceptance of women’s suffrage in the American public?
• How effective was protesting and parades in helping the cause of women’s suffrage?
• Why was 1920 a good year for the passage of the 19^th Amendment?
• What was the ERA and what did it stand for?

Procedures/Activities:

Day 1: Introductory Activity

In the beginning of class give students a controversial scenario such as: the school district administration is making changes and is considering a change to the calendar with year round school, meaning intermittent breaks during the year, resulting in the elimination of the usual ten week summer vacation. (Another scenario could be later start times for middle and high school students.) However, before making a decision, the school district wants to get feedback from students...but they will only allow hearing half of the student population’s opinions. Randomly count off each student in the class, effectively dividing the class into half. Ask the “chosen” one half to vote silently, tally up the votes and announce the decision. When students object to the vote being unfair, that only half were able to vote, ask them does it make sense to deny someone their right to voice their opinion through voting? Effectively weave in the idea that for a big chunk of our country’s history, about half the country’s population were denied voting rights. It was not until 1920, less than 100 years ago, that women were entitled to exercise their right to vote. Explain that for the next two days we will be looking into how women gained the right to vote and focusing especially on a courageous New Jersey woman, Alice Paul, an instrumental figure in getting the 19th Amendment passed. (This activity was adapted and modified from the Alice Paul Institute https://www.alicepaul.org/about-alice-paul/

http://www.alicepaul.org/who-was-alice-paul/alice-glance-curricula/

Vocabulary

For homework, the night before the lesson, have students define key words or phrases pertaining to the women’s movement:

• Amendment
• Ballot
• Militant
• Picket
• Quaker
• Ratify
• Slogan
• Strategy
• Suffragist
• Moderate
• Tyranny

Review the words and their meanings with the students once this assignment is complete. Tell them to keep this vocabulary list since it will be used at the end of the lesson. (This activity was adapted and modified from the Alice Paul Institute http://www.alicepaul.org/who-was-alice-paul/alice-glance-curricula/.

Who is Alice Paul?

Ask students, “Do you know who Alice Paul is?” Few if any will know. Tell them they’re not alone, that in women’s history, she is often an overlooked, underappreciated figure. Show a short informational video from the New Jersey Historical Commission about Alice Paul and Woman’s Suffrage at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GDe4DkZN2A

Then, ask the students to name the pioneers of the women’s movement during the nineteenth century. (They should name Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Mary Lyon, Sojourner Truth, etc.) Explain that the goal of women’s suffrage was never achieved during their lifetimes. When these pioneers died, the women’s movement was in a flux. Eventually, two women would take the reins: Carrie Chapman Catt and New Jersey’s Alice Paul.

Introduction to the Women’s Suffrage Movement in the 20th Century

Historical Background to the Women’s Suffrage Movement

New Jersey was the only state of the original thirteen to grant women the right to vote in its state constitution of 1776. But only unmarried, property owning, tax-paying women could qualify. Their right to vote was short lived. In 1807, the all-male New Jersey legislature passed a law restricting suffrage to free, white, male citizens. It took more than a century, until the 19^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1920, for women to be granted the right to vote.

At the forefront for women’s suffrage were Quaker women, who had been advocating the abolition of slavery in the 1840’s. From within the American Anti-Slavery Society members came growing demands for an equal place for women. This led members Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a wealthy, well-educated anti-slavery advocate, and Lucretia Mott, a Quaker minister, to call for a Women’s Rights Convention, which was held in Seneca Falls, New York, July 19-20, 1948. The Convention unanimously supported advocacy for a woman’s right to property, custody of their children, right to earnings and inheritance. Female suffrage was not a primary issue. A resolution supporting women’s right to vote passed only be a bare majority.

Women’s rights advocates like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, also a Quaker, hoped that the Civil War would pave the way for suffrage for women, as well as African-American men. The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution was passed by Congress in February 1869 specifically enfranchised African-American men, but not women. Stanton and Anthony then focused on a broad agenda of women’s rights and a national constitutional amendment. Another group, led by suffragist, Lucy Stone, moved the battle for women’s suffrage to the states. At the close of the 19^th century, only four Western states--Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho-- had granted women the right to vote. Unfortunately, Stanton, Mott, Anthony and Stone never realized total American woman suffrage in their lifetimes.

At the dawn of the 20^th century, old Victorian ideas of women and their roles began to crumble, particularly with the rise of women colleges, labor unions, women’s clubs, settlement houses, and the increasing number of working women. The two women’s suffrage organizations reunited and agreed to work together. Carrie Chapman Catt, a teacher and then superintendent of schools in Iowa involved in the women’s suffrage movement since the 1880s, and Alice Paul led the charge with new strategies. The suffragists hoped that the new president, Woodrow Wilson, who had led progressive measure as Governor of New Jersey, would be supportive. But war intervened.

When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, suffragists joined the war effort and believed their loyalty and support would make suffrage inevitable. Catt believed that showing patriotism by raising money in Liberty Loan drives, joining the Red Cross, sewing and preparing surgical dressings would propel more acceptance of women’s suffrage. Paul, on the other hand, took to protesting in front of the White House, reminding the government that while promoting democracy abroad, American women were denied the right to vote at home. The time was ripe for President Wilson and the American people to back women’s suffrage in the nation.

Critical Thinking Activity: Divide the class into small groups and ask the students to compare and contrast the two factions (the militant NWP or the moderate NAWSA) of the women’s suffrage movement, led by Carrie Chapman Catt (Handout 1) and Alice Paul (Handout 2). After reading the handouts of Catt and Paul, have students complete a graphic organizer, (Handout 3) comparing the political groups and strategies of the two activists. Thinking Further: For homework, students will write an opinion essay on the back of the graphic organizer indicating whether Paul’s (NWP) or Catt’s (NAWSA) organization was more influential in bringing about the nineteenth amendment.

Day 2: Primary Source Activity

Creating powerful political imagery was vital in creating a political presence in the American mind and in bringing forward the accepted idea of voting rights for women. Two distinct images evolved for women’s suffrage: one mainstream (NAWSA and Catt), the other, militant, (NWP and Paul).

The moderate view used symbolism or imagery of motherhood, domestic images and duty to social service and political reform. The militant view used symbols of equality, individual freedom and personal empowerment. The color gold was frequently used to represent enlightenment. “Forward into the light “became the motto of the NWP. Additionally, the “herald angel” was used representing the civic virtues of women. Pro-suffrage women successfully used parades and demonstrations to bring the issue to the forefront of the American conscience. Both branches, moderate and militant, promoted women’s inclusion in American public life, and with the potent imagery they created, significantly helped push suffrage to Congressional approval and eventual state ratification.

Conversely, anti-suffrage groups oftentimes pictured women in posters as neglectful of their family, or crazed and violent, armed frequently with an umbrella as a weapon. (Background information source: https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/votesforwomen/tour_02-02x.html)

Analyze the symbolism of pro- and anti-suffrage posters and photos: Students will continue in their groups and analyze protest posters and photos from the years immediately prior to ratification of the 19th Amendment. This will enable students to recognize the mores, values, and opinions of society towards women during that time period that expressed pro- and anti-suffrage sentiments. Use Handouts A-Q, assigning a couple of photos and posters to each group. Each handout includes suggested questions about the symbolism expressed, the point of view, the message, and the strategy used in the photo or poster. After about five to ten minutes, have students jigsaw, or move to other groups to share/exchange photos and findings. You could also have groups present their favorite photo or poster to the entire class for discussion. A promethean board is ideal to project the photo or poster.

Day 3: Closure

Draw conclusion. Give students Handout R, “The Portrait Monument,” dedicated to women’s suffrage and displayed in the Capitol building. Let students identify the three women in the monument, and discuss what their immediate thoughts are about this sculpture. Explain to students that this monument, like the women’s movement, had its controversy, too. Alice Paul and her National Women’s Party presented this monument to Congress in 1921, after women received the right to vote nationally. Critics of the monument called it “Three Women in a Bathtub.” Congress finally begrudgingly accepted it, and Alice Paul had the eight ton monument dragged down the street to the Capitol by mules. After one day in the Rotunda, it was moved to the basement, where it stayed for 76 years. Ask students what inferences can be drawn about Congress, the American public and their attitudes towards the women’s movement and Alice Paul? Explain further that, finally in 1996, a campaign to display it in a more accessible place began and with the help of donations, it was moved to the Rotunda, where it stands today. Now that students have background information, have them answer the questions on Handout R, the Portrait Monument.

Alternatively, have students write a short essay explaining why Alice Paul was critical to the women’s suffrage movement and the reasons why it took so long for women to get the right to vote.

An third option would be to have students watch the video, “Bad Romance, Inspired by Alice Paul” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvu3krcs8ec&list=RDGvu3krcs8ec (5:07 min) This is a musical, motivating video about Alice Paul. Teachers please preview this video before showing it to students. While watching the video, have students “call out” the people, events and protests they were able to identify as a result of their acquired knowledge from the two day lesson.

Extension:

• Have students rewrite the section of their textbook pertaining to Alice Paul, supplementing it with the additional knowledge learned from this lesson. They must incorporate in their rewrite, allthe vocabulary words they defined at the beginning of the lesson.
• Have students create a diary entry by Alice Paul by detailing her protests, arrest and describing her stay in jail.
• Share with the class that there areongoing efforts to preserve the memory of the dedicated suffragists. Share the link of the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial currently being constructed in Virginia. Ask students to visit the sitehttps://suffragistmemorial.org/ to see what this memorial is all about and to identify other New Jersey women involved in the women’s suffrage movement, https://suffragistmemorial.org/suffragists-by-state/#new_jersey. Have students create a biography on these other New Jersey suffragists, by conducting research and focusing on their efforts and contributions to the cause.
• Take students to visit Paulsdale, the home of Alice Paul and the Alice Paul Institute, in Mt. Laurel, NJ. The Alice Paul Institute educates the public about the life and works of Alice Paul and offers heritage and girl’s leadership development at Paulsdale, her home and a National Historic landmark. For information go to alicepaul.org.
• Compare the Women’s Suffrage Parade of 1913 to the Women’s March on Washington, January 21, 2017 and/or “A Day Without A Woman” Strike/Rally on March 8, 2017.

 

Handout 1: Carrie Chapman Catt

Adapted and modified from http://www.tec-coop.org/carrie-chapman-catt-vs-alice-paul , the National American Woman’s Suffrage Association and PBS.org

Carrie Lane was born in Wisconsin in 1859. In 1880, she graduated from Iowa State College, at the top of her class. She worked as a law clerk, a teacher, a principal and eventual a superintendent of schools. In 1885, Carrie married Leo Chapman, who sadly died of typhoid fever the next year. She then joined the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association, eventually becoming the Iowa association’s state organizer, as well as their professional writer and lecturer.

In 1890, Carrie Chapman married George Catt, who encouraged Carrie to continue her suffrage activities. She joins the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), befriends Susan B. Anthony, and addresses Congress on a proposed suffrage amendment. She will succeed Anthony as NAWSA president, and from then on her time is spent mostly in speechmaking, planning campaigns, organizing women and developing political expertise. Her methods to bring the message of woman’s suffrage were done in the spirit of peace and humanity.

In 1915, the NAWSA became divided when Catt clashed with Alice Paul, the militant activist, who wanted to focus on the suffrage issue at the federal level. Catt believed that suffrage at the state level would lead eventually to a Constitutional amendment. Under the leadership of Catt, NAWSA won the backing of the House and Senate. In 1917, New York passed a state woman suffrage law, and finally in 1918, President Woodrow Wilson supported the cause. On August 26, 1920, the 19^th Amendment was signed into law and became part of our Constitution.

After the passage of the 19^th Amendment, Catt served as president of the League of Women Voters, until her death. She wrote a book about the woman suffrage movement. Her commitment to peace was continued by founding the National Committee on the Cause and Cure of War.

On March 9, 1947, Carrie Chapman Catt died of heart failure in New Rochelle, New York. By playing a key role in the successful campaign in ensuring women the right to vote, her life exemplified how one can make a difference in the struggle for justice in the United States.

Handout 2: Alice Paul

Adapted and modified from http://www.alicepaul.org/who-was-alice-paul/

Alice Paul was born on January 11, 1885 to William and Tacie Paul at Paulsdale, her family farm in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. Alice was a Quaker, and Quakers believe that women and men are equal and should have the same opportunities and rights. Her mother, Tacie, was a member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and held meetings at Paulsdale, influencing Alice in her life’s work: securing equal right for women.

As for Alice Paul’s education, she graduated first in her class at her high school and graduated with a degree in biology from Swarthmore College, serving as commencement speaker.

After she finished college, Alice traveled to England to study social work. There, she met radical suffragettes, Christabel and Emmeline Pankhurst, and she started working for women’s rights in the British suffrage movement. The Pankhursts engaged in direct and visible measures to raise public awareness about women suffrage, using tactics such as rock throwing, window smashing, and heckling. Although the suffragettes were sometimes jailed, Alice believed that English suffragettes had found a path to victory that American women were not achieving due to their passivity.

Alice returned to America in 1910, joined the NAWSA, committed to work for a federal amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would give women suffrage. Alice liked some of the ideas that she had learned in England and decided to try them in America. One tactic was organizing a large parade for women’s suffrage in Washington, D.C. during President Wilson’s inauguration. The suffragists made headlines causing a public debate on the suffrage cause.

Due to differences in strategies for achieving woman’s suffrage, Alice Paul split from the NAWSA and Carrie Chapman’s leadership, and formed a new party: the National Woman’s Party (NWP). Alice and her newly formed party had its headquarters across the street from the White House where they hung purple, gold, and white banners out the windows so the President and any passers-by could see them. But the next tactic they used would get even more attention: the suffragettes, known as “silent sentinels” would picket in front of the White House. After six months, the protesters were arrested for “obstructing traffic.” The suffragettes were jailed for the summer and fall of 1917 in cold, rat-infested cells, where Paul and others staged hunger strikes. The public responded for their release from jail, and many Americans now supported woman’s suffrage.

Alice Paul—Handout 2 continued

The National Woman’s Party’s tactics helped to convince the President and many members of the Congress that they should support women’s suffrage. The Congress passed the amendment to the Constitution and it was up to the states to ratify it. It took more than a year for 36 states to ratify the amendment, but finally, in August 1920, American women won the right to vote in the 19th amendment.

Alice Paul felt that the vote was the first step to full equality for women. She spent the rest of her life, working for a new Constitutional amendment, the Equal Rights Amendment, which would make sure that every person had the same opportunities and rights. Eventually it passed in the House and the Senate, however the amendment fell short of ratification by three states.

Alice Paul died on July 9, 1977, in Moorestown, NJ. The Alice Paul Institute was founded in 1985 at Paulsdale, Alice’s family home. The institute supports and trains girls and young women to take on leadership roles. Paulsdale welcomes visitors to learn about Alice Paul and her lifelong pursuit of equality.

 

Handout 3: Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt Comparison

	Alice Paul	Carrie Chapman Catt
Birthdate/place
Family
Education
Organizations
Suffrage Friends/Influences
Suffrage Strategies & examples
Political activities after the passage of the 19th Amendment
Date of death/place/age

Thinking further: On the back of this sheet, express in your opinion, which organization, the NAWSA or the NWP was more successful in bringing about the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment? Explain your answer using specific cause and effect examples.

 

Handout A– Group at Parade

http://hal.loc.gov/loc.gov/loc.mss/mnwp.159054

What group of people are pictured in the parade?

What insight did you gain about the women’s movement and its members from this photo?

 

Handout B – Suffrage Parade

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mnwp.159053

How would you describe this scene?

What does it say about civic involvement in the women’s movement?

Handout C – Hedwick Reicher as Miss Columbia

What symbolism is shown here?

What does Miss Columbia represent?

Use adjectives to describe Miss Columbia in this picture.

Where do you think this photograph took place?

What do you think was the purpose of this photo?

 

Handout D – Inez, March 3, 1913.

Photo Credit: Library of Congress, National Woman's Party Records.

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mnwp.274006

What symbolism is used here?

Describe Inez using adjectives.

Why do you suppose Inez dressed this way and posed on a horse?

What is revealed from this photo about the time period and or the women’s movement?

 

Handout E – Alice Paul holding up "Kaiser Wilson" sign.

https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/woman-suffrage/kaiser-wilson.html

Why is President Wilson referred to as "Kaiser Wilson"?

What does Alice Paul mean by "20,000,000 American Women Are Not Self-Governed?"

What does Alice Paul infer in the poster with "Take the beam out of your own eye?"

 

Handout F – Protesting President Wilson. 1916.

Photo Credit: http://wagingnonviolence.org/feature/suffragette-raises-question-property-destruction-effectiveness/

Why were the women protesting President Wilson?

Do you think this is an effective strategy by the protesters? Why or why not?

What role do you think the war played in women gaining the right to vote?

 

Handout G – Treasury Steps - March 3, 1913.

Photo Credit: Library of Congress. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mnwp.276006

What symbolism is shown in this photograph?

Why do you think the suffragettes chose the Department of Treasury steps for their protest?

Do you think this was an effective strategy? Why or why not?

 

Handout H – Invoking Lincoln, 1910.

Gilder Lehrman Collection #GLC09103. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/politics-reform/resources/suffragists-invoke-lincoln-1910

Why do you think the suffragettes chose Lincoln’s words in this poster?

Based on your understanding of Lincoln’s character, had he lived, how might he have viewed the suffragist movement?

Handout I – Vineland, NJ, April 1, 1914.

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mnwp.160009a

This float won first prize in a parade in Vineland, NJ

What adjectives would you use to describe this float?

How would you describe the women in the float?

What symbolism is being used?

 

Handout J – Giving out handbills for the President’s Inaugural Parade, 1913.

Library of Congress, Harris and Ewing Collection, Washington, DC.

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2013/03/100-years-ago-the-1913-womens-suffrage-parade/100465/#img09

What do you think the handbills say?

What does the image reveal about suffragettes commitment to the women’s movement?

How do you think this man in the picture responded to the women?

Be creative. On a separate piece of paper, write your own copy for a handbill about the parade for the President’s inaugural parade.

 

Handout K – Analyzing a women’s movement poster, 1908.

Photo Credit: Ann Lewis Women's Suffrage Collection.

https://lewissuffragecollection.omeka.net/items/show/2049

What symbolism is used in this poster?

What is the artist’s point of view?

Do you think that this poster is supporting or opposing the vote for women?

What evidence from the poster did you use to support your conclusion?

 

Handout L - Analyzing women’s movement poster, 1909.

Photo credit: https://antisuffragepostcards.wordpress.com/postcard-analyses/no-11-i-want-to-vote-but-my-wife-wont-let-me/

What symbolism is used in this poster?

What is the artist’s point of view? How do you know that?

Is this a pro women’s movement poster or an anti-women’s movement poster? Why?

 

Handout M – Analyzing women’s movement posters -Circa 1910-1915.

Photo Credit: https://lewissuffragecollection.omeka.net/items/show/2037

What symbolism is used?

What is the artist’s point of view?

How do you know that?

Is this a pro-women’s movement poster or an anti-women’s movement poster?

 

Handout N – Analyzing a women’s movement poster - 1915.

Photo Credit: Missouri History Museum, Art by Rose Cecil O'Neill.

http://collections.mohistory.org/resource/146709.html

What symbolism is used?

What is the artist’s point of view?

How do you know that?

Is this a pro-women’s movement poster or an anti-women’s movement poster?

 

Handout O – Analyzing a women’s movement poster, February 1, 1920.

Photo Credit, "Learning New Tricks" by Nina Allender.

http://nationalwomansparty.org/alice-paul-and-the-war-on-women/

What symbolism is used?

What is the artist’s point of view? How do you know that?

The caption reads, "Taming the Animals." What do you think the artist means by that?

Is this a pro-women’s movement poster or an anti-women’s movement poster?

 

Handout P – Analyzing a magazine cover - February 20, 1913.

Photo Credit: http://www.diomedia.com/imageSearcher.do?keywords=01AQHMP0&isDiomedia=1&logKeywords=1

What symbolism is used?

What is the artist’s point of view? How do you know that?

Is this a pro-women’s movement magazine cover or an anti-women’s movement magazine cover?

What year is revealed in Roman numerals?

Handout Q – Analyzing a program cover from the National Woman

Suffrage Procession, March 3, 1913

Photo Credit: by Benjamin Dale, Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.12512/, Lot 5541, Prints and Photographs Division, LC – USZC4-2996

What symbolism is used?

What event in the suffrage movement is portrayed on the cover?

What message is the artist trying to convey?

 

Handout R – Portrait Monument by Adelaide Johnson, February 10, 1921

Photo Credit: Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/97510834/

Who are the three famous three women featured in this monument?

The sculptor felt that part of the monument should be left uncarved because there was unfinished business to do in the women’s movement. What do you think she meant by that?

What do you think the unfinished part should represent?

Do you think that a future female leader should be carved in there? If so, who do you think should claim the fourth spot on the monument?

An announcement for a slave auction in 1769

Lesson Creator: New Jersey Center for Civic Education, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ

Grade level: Secondary

Objectives: Students will be able to:

• Explain the existence of slavery in New Jersey during the colonial and antebellum periods.
• Analyze efforts to abolish slavery in New Jersey during the colonial and antebellum periods.
• Compare political and religious arguments made by NJ Quakers against slavery.
• Explain why New Jersey provided an Underground Railroad route for slaves, describe the risks and routes taken and many sites in New Jersey.

New Jersey Student Learning Standards for Social Studies (2020):

• 6.1.8.CivicsHR.3.b: Evaluate the impact of the institution of slavery on the political and economic expansion of the United States.
• 6.1.8.CivicsHR.3.c: Construct an argument to explain how the expansion of slavery violated human rights and contradicted American ideals.
• 6.1.8.CivicsHR.4.a: Examine sources from a variety of perspectives to describe efforts to reform education, women’s rights, slavery, and other issues during the Antebellum period.
• 6.1.8.HistoryCC.4.b: Explain the growing resistance to slavery and New Jersey’s role in the Underground Railroad.
• 6.1.8.HistoryUP.5.b: Examine the roles of women, African Americans, and Native Americans in the Civil War.
• 6.1.12.HistoryUP.2.a: Using primary sources, describe the perspectives of African Americans, Native Americans, and women during the American Revolution and assess the contributions of each group on the outcome of the war.
• 6.1.12.HistoryUP.2.b: Analyze the impact and contributions of African American leaders and institutions in the development and activities of black communities in the North and South before and after the Civil War.
• 6.1.12.CivicsDP.3.a: Compare and contrast the successes and failures of political and social reform movements in New Jersey and the nation during the Antebellum period (i.e., the 1844 State Constitution, abolition, women’s rights, and temperance).
• 6.1.12. CivicsDP.3.c: Examine the origins of the antislavery movement and the impact of particular events, such as the Amistad decision, on the movement.
• 6.1.12.HistoryUP.3.b: Examine a variety of sources from multiple perspectives on slavery and evaluate the claims used to justify the arguments.
• 6.1.12.HistoryCA.3.a: Use evidence to demonstrate how states' rights (i.e., Nullification) and sectional interests influenced party politics and shaped national policies (i.e., the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850).
• 6.1.12.CivicsPR.4.a: Draw from multiple sources to explain the ways in which prevailing attitudes, socioeconomic factors, and government actions (i.e., the Fugitive Slave Act and Dred Scott Decision) in the North and South (i.e., Secession) led to the Civil War.
• 6.1.12.HistoryUP.4.b: Use primary sources to compare and contrast the experiences of African Americans who lived in Union and Confederate states before and during the Civil War.
• 6.1.12.CivicsDP.4.a: Compare and contrast historians’ interpretations of the impact of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments on African American's ability to participate in influencing governmental policies.
• 6.1.12.HistoryCA.4.c: Analyze the debate about how to reunite the country and determine the extent to which enacted Reconstruction policies achieved their goals.

Common Core ELA Standards: See Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects

• RH.6-8.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
• RH.6-8.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
• RH.6-8.3 Identify key steps in a text's description of a process related to history/social studies.
• RH.6-8.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.
• RH.6-8.7 Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.
• RH.6-8.8 Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.
• W.8.1.c Use words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.
• W.8.1.e Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
• W.8.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
• W.8.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
• W.8.7 Conduct short research projects to answer a question…
• W.8.8 Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
• RH.9-10.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.
• RH.9-10.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
• RH.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social science.
• RH.9-10.6 Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.
• RH.9-10.7 Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g., charts, research data) with qualitative analysis in print or digital text.
• RH.9-10.9 Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.
• W.9-10.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
• W.9-10.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
• W.9-10.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question.
• W.9-10.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
• SL.9-10.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners.
• SL.9-10.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically.

Focus questions:

• Why did slavery exist in New Jersey during the colonial period and what was its impact?
• How and why did England encourage colonists to bring slaves to New Jersey?
• Where were most slaves working in New Jersey and why?
• What efforts were made in New Jersey to abolish slavery during the Antebellum period (1815-1860) and how successful were they?

1. Slavery in New Jersey during the colonial period

Background:

Although it became more pervasive in the southern colonies, the enslavement of Black Africans existed in all British North American colonies by 1690. There is some evidence of a Black slave presence in 1639 in Pavonia (near present-day Jersey City), part of the Dutch colony of New Netherland. Slavery spread as a response to the chronic shortage of free labor. Originally treated more like servants than slaves, the Black Africans initially had a few basic rights: families were usually kept intact; they were admitted to the Dutch Reformed church and married by ministers; they could testify in court and bring civil actions against white. Some were permitted to work after hours and could earn wages. But this would change under the British.

When the English proprietors established the New Jersey colony after the British took over in 1664, slavery was legalized and encouraged by offering settlers additional land for every slave (“servant’) imported (See the excerpt from the 1664 Concessions and Agreement attached as Handout 1). In response to the growth of slavery in New Jersey, laws were passed regulating the treatment and behavior of those in bondage. A 1675 law forbade transporting or harboring a slave who had left his or her owner without permission. In 1682, East Jersey enacted a law requiring that slave masters provide sufficient food and clothing for their slaves.

Cooper's Ferry (Camden) served as the port of entry for bondspersons bound for South Jersey counties (Burlington, Gloucester, Salem and Cape May) and Perth Amboy was the main port of entry for the northern counties (Bergen, Essex, Middlesex and Monmouth). There were an estimated 2,600 slaves in New Jersey in 1726 and 4,700 in 1745, three-quarters of them in the northern counties which tended to be both more economically developed and to suffer from labor shortages. There were also a greater number of Quakers in the southern counties who objected to slavery.

Initially, both the Dutch and English colonists preferred to get their slaves from other New World colonies (primarily Jamaica and Barbados) rather than directly from Africa. Slaves imported directly from Africa were considered too dangerous and difficult. West Indies slaves were “seasoned”. This changed by the mid-1700s when New Jersey began to import slaves directly from Africa. Most worked as farmhands. Some also labored in mining, lumbering, and skilled crafts such as blacksmiths, millers, carpenters, shoemakers, coopers, millwrights and tanners. Women worked as nannies, cooks, maids and washerwomen.

In 1702, when New Jersey became a crown colony, Queen Anne urged Lord Edward Cornbury, the first royal governor of the colony, to keep the settlers provided with "a constant and sufficient supply of merchantable Negroes at moderate prices" to meet the labor needs. She also advised him to take the necessary steps to ensure that proper payment for slaves be made to the Royal African Company, which had been granted a royal monopoly in the slave trade. In rejecting a proposed slave tariff in 1744, the Provincial Council declared that nothing would be permitted to interfere with the importation of Negroes. The council observed that slaves had become essential to the colonial economy, since many colonists could not afford to pay the high wages commanded by free workers.

During Queen Anne's War (1702-1713), any slave found more than five miles from home without a pass was to be flogged, and the master was required to pay a reward to the person who had reported the infraction. From 1713 (after a violent slave uprising in New York) to 1768, the colony operated a separate court system to deal with slave crimes (East Jersey had had a separate slave court since 1695). Special punishments for slaves remained in the books until 1788. The colony also had laws meant to discourage slave revolts. Slaves were forbidden to carry firearms when not in the company of their masters or to assemble on their own or to be in the streets at night. Controls were further tightened during times of crisis. Slaves guilty of arson were subject to severe punishments even by Northern standards. In 1735, a slave in Bergen County who attempted to set fire to a house was burned at the stake. In 1741, several slaves were burned at the stake for setting a fire to barns in Hackensack. Yet in spite of these precautions, New Jersey narrowly escaped a violent slave uprising in 1743.

Activity: Using the background information and Handouts 1 and 2, students explain how and why England encouraged colonists to bring slaves to New Jersey.

Activity: Using the background information provided along with some additional research, create a timeline of rights given to and limitations placed on slaves in New Jersey during the colonial period. Draw a conclusion: were slaves being given more or less rights and liberty over the period 1664 through 1750?

2. African Americans during the American Revolution

It is estimated that the number of Blacks, almost all slaves, in New Jersey increased from 200 in 1680 to 8-12% of the colony's population at the start of the American Revolution in 1776. The 1790 census showed 11,423 slaves in New Jersey or 6.2% of its total population, although some historians estimate that it was closer to 7.7 or 8%. New Jersey did not abolish, or even mention, slavery in its 1776 Constitution. The Revolutionary War, however, was responsible, directly or indirectly, for the freedom of many slaves in New Jersey. Some slaves escaped, while others earned their freedom by fighting for the Continental Army or the New Jersey Militia.

Responding to the November 1775 proclamation by Lord Dunmore, royal governor of Virginia, which promised freedom to any slave who fought for Britain, several thousand blacks cast their lot with the British. One of the most notable was a fugitive slave from Shrewsbury (Monmouth County), Titus Cornelius, later known as Colonel Tye. After participating in the Battle of Monmouth (1778), he led several successful raids on the farms of Americans in Monmouth County before being killed in 1780.

Lord Dunmore’s declaration also resulted in the reversal of the American policy of excluding blacks from military service. As of December 31, 1775, free blacks could enlist, and one who did was Oliver Cromwell. Born free in Columbus (Burlington County) in 1752, he enlisted in a company attached to the Second New Jersey Regiment. Cromwell crossed the Delaware with Washington on December 24, 1776, and saw action at Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, and Yorktown.

Blacks were present at all the major battles in New Jersey, such as Trenton (1776), Princeton (1777), Fort Mercer (1777), Monmouth (1778), and Springfield (1780), as well as those elsewhere, such as Saratoga (1777), Savannah (1779), and Yorktown (1781). Most black soldiers were free and from the northern colonies, but some were slaves like Samuel Sutphen of Somerset County, a participant in battles in New York and New Jersey between 1776 and 1780.

Some African American slaves, who had remained loyalists during the war, left the country afterwards for Canada or Britain. Others had been given freedom for their participation in the fight for independence. Some slaves took advantage of the chaos of war to escape and pass as free Blacks. Others were manumitted by their owners or the state legislature because of service in the American forces or in keeping with the egalitarian spirit of the Revolution. The 1790 census showed 11,423 slaves remaining in New Jersey and 2,762 free Blacks.

Activity: Students identify the contributions of African American slaves during the American Revolution. Research the history of African American slaves, such a “Colonel Tye”, from Monmouth County, NJ, who fought for the British. Compare their motivation, actions and the consequences with other African Americans in New Jersey, such as Oliver Cromwell or Samuel Sutphen, who fought for independence. For information and primary source documents regarding African Americans and the American Revolution go to Colonel Tye - Crossroads of the American Revolution; Colonel Tye | American Battlefield Trust; Oliver Cromwell - Crossroads of the American Revolution; Black Revolutionary War soldier, who crossed the Delaware with Washington, honored in NJ; Samuel Sutphin - Honoring Our Patriots; Samuel Sutphen, Wartime Experience of a New Jersey Slave (PDF)

3. Efforts to Abolition Slavery in New Jersey

Anti-slavery sentiments began long before the American Revolution. In 1688, the first anti-slavery tract written in the American colonies was read at the annual meeting of the Delaware Valley Quakers in Burlington. One of America's earliest foes of slavery was John Woolman (1720-1772), a Quaker leader, clerk and tailor born in Burlington County. Woolman believed that slaves should be freed by the personal action of their masters rather than by political measures and traveled extensively championing the cause of Manumission. His 1754 tract, “Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes,” (Handout 3) was one of the earliest anti-slavery statements in the country. His opposition contributed to the 1776 decision by Quakers to excommunicate any co-religionist who was a slaveholder.

During and after the Revolutionary War, opponents of slavery formed abolition societies in all the northern states, led by local elites such as John Jay, Gouverneur Morris and Alexander Hamilton in New York and Benjamin Rush and Benjamin Franklin in Pennsylvania. In 1778, New Jersey’s first state Governor William Livingston asked the state legislature to provide gradual abolition, but the State Assembly persuaded him to withdraw the message because the country was in "too critical a situation to enter on the consideration of it at that time." Unlike many other Northern states, abolition was strongly opposed by New Jersey’s legislature, often with racist arguments that would later be remembered only when used in the American South.

In 1789, abolitionist John Cooper (1729-1785) advocated for emancipation both for religious and civic reasons. Cooper was an influential Quaker from Gloucester County, New Jersey, who had served on several local revolutionary committees, the Provincial Congress, the Continental Congress and the committee that drafted the state’s first constitution in 1776. He was concerned that the continuation of slavery was inconsistent with a republican government as well as contrary to moral principles and urged the immediate end to slavery. See his article in the New-Jersey Gazette from Sept. 20, 1780, attached as Handout 4. His essay was unusual in rejecting gradual manumission in favor of an immediate end to slavery.

The anti-slavery efforts of New Jersey Quakers and the Society for Promoting the Abolition of slavery led in 1786 to a ban on the importation of slaves into the state. It encouraged manumission by eliminating the requirement that a slave owner financially support a slave who was to be emancipated. The New Jersey Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, created in 1793, kept up agitation on the issue. However, despite early and persistent protests by Quakers, New Jersey came late and rather unwillingly to abolition.

In 1804 the New Jersey Legislature passed "An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery" (Handout 5) that provided for females born of slave parents after July 4, 1804, to be free upon reaching 21 years of age, and males upon reaching 25. A hidden subsidy for slaveowners was included: A provision allowed slaveowners to free their slave children, who would then be turned over to the care of the local overseers of the poor (the state's social welfare agency in those days). The bill provided $3 a month for the support of such children. A slaveowner could then agree to have the children "placed" in his household and collect the $3 monthly subsidy on them. The evidence suggests this practice was widespread, and the cost for "abandoned blacks" rose to 40 percent of the New Jersey budget by 1809. It was a tax on the entire state paid into the pockets of a few to maintain what were still, essentially, slaves. New Jersey slaveowners also had the option to sell their human property into states that still allowed slaveholding, or into long indentures in Pennsylvania, until an 1818 law that forbade "the exportation of slaves or servants of color." The Legislature ultimately repealed the entire payment system for the maintenance and support of abandoned slave children in 1811.

By 1820, free Blacks in New Jersey outnumbered those still held in bondage (See Handout 7). The Legislature reacted to the growing movement to colonize free Blacks and slaves in Africa, by adopting a Resolution in 1824 favoring colonization, provided that the rights of slaveholders were not infringed (Handout 6). Only after the concerted efforts of New Jersey’s second major abolitionist organization, the New Jersey Anti-Slavery Society, was slavery fully abolished in New Jersey. Failing to get the New Jersey Supreme Court to agree that the Bill of Rights in the 1844 New Jersey Constitution (See Handout 8) outlawed slavery, the Anti-Slavery Society campaigned for a permanent abolition of slavery, which was enacted in 1846. The 1846 law abolished slavery but did not actually free any existing slaves. It freed all Black children born after its passage; however, it left the state’s few remaining slaves as “apprentices for life”. At the start of the Civil War, New Jersey citizens owned 18 "apprentices for life" (the federal census listed them as "slaves”see Handout 8) -- legal slaves by any name.

Activity: Students read Handout 3: Excerpts from John Woolman’s “Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes”; and Handout 4: John Cooper’s Anti-Slavery article in the New-Jersey Gazette and compare and contrast their major arguments against slavery. Explain which argument you find most persuasive and why.

Activity: Using Handout 7: Population of New Jersey Counties 1820, students identify where most slaves worked in New Jersey and why. Which counties had the largest populations? Which counties had the largest slave populations? Which counties have the largest free colored populations? What economic, cultural and religious differences between the northeastern and southwestern parts of the state might explain this? Compare free and slave population in 1820 (Handout 7) with the free and slave population in 1850 (Handout 8).

4. The Underground Railroad in New Jersey

New Jersey Gazette, Nov. 15, 1780 at Princeton & Slavery | "One Thousand Dollars Reward" for Caesar

Although Quakers started this anti-slavery movement in the 1780s, the Underground Railroad became legendary after the 1830s, when abolitionists and other sympathizers began helping slaves escape to freedom. The Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 was enacted by Congress to allow slave hunters to capture an escaped slave in any territory or state with only oral proof that the person was runaway, making an escape from slavery more difficult, and imposed penalties on anyone who aided in their flight. Refusing to be complicit in the institution of slavery, most Northern states intentionally neglected to enforce the law. Several even passed so-called “Personal Liberty Laws” that gave accused runaways the right to a jury trial and also protected free blacks, many of whom had been abducted by bounty hunters and sold into slavery.

In the early part of the nineteenth century, New Jersey was plagued by the kidnapping and sale of New Jersey slaves to the South. In an effort to combat these abuses, the Legislature enacted a series of laws that imposed significant penalties upon slave traders.

Following increased pressure from Southern politicians, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 as part of the Compromise of 1850, a group of bills designed to quiet calls for Southern secession. The 1850 Act made it easier to retake fugitive slaves. It also denied slaves the right to a jury trial, increased the penalty for helping fugitives escape to six months in jail and a fine of $1000 (equivalent to over $42,000 in 2026). The harsh penalties contributed to the retrieval of many escaped slaves, abduction of many free Blacks and was met with impassioned criticism and resistance. Unlike many states in the North, New Jersey failed to enact legislation to circumvent the Fugitive Slave Act. In fact, New Jersey was the only state in the North to actively enforce the federal law.

The Underground Railroad reached its peak in the 1850s. New Jersey was close to the two most active Underground Railroad cities--New York and Philadelphia--and to the southern upper states of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. Also, there were a large number of all-black communities in NJ that served as sanctuaries for fugitive slaves. For example, in the mid 1800's Salem County, NJ had a population of 2,075 free blacks and a large number of Quakers, all who aided them in their escape. No other northern state exceeded New Jersey in the number of all-black communities that served as Underground Railroad sanctuaries for southern fugitive slaves. Fugitive slaves crossed the Delaware Bay to New Jersey, travelled across at various safe houses to Jersey City and at the Morris Canal basin fled by boat across the Hudson River (called the “River Jordan”) to go to Canada, New England or New York City.

New Jersey has several Underground Railroad conductors and many Underground Railroad sites. The most famous conductor is Harriet Tubman. William Still, a free black man from Burlington County, NJ, assisted Harriet Tubman's rescue efforts and established a network of safe houses and contacts stretching from the upper South to Canada. Abigail Goodwin, the daughter of a Quaker farmer who had freed his slaves during the American Revolution, and her sister, Elizabeth, were fervent abolitionists. In the 1830s, Abigail emerged as an active figure in the Underground Railroad movement and the Goodwin home in Salem, NJ became a station on the Underground Railroad.

No other northern state exceeded New Jersey in the number of all-black communities that served as Underground Railroad sanctuaries for southern fugitive slaves. Springtown (Cumberland County), Marshalltown (Salem County), Snow Hill (present-day Lawnside, Camden County), and Timbuctoo (Burlington County) were among such places, located mainly in rural South Jersey, in which fugitive slaves also settled.

Activity: Use the following resources to learn more about the famous underground railroad “conductors”: Harriet Tubman, Abigail Goodman and William Still. Explain why Harriet Tubman, William Still and/or Abigail Goodwin risked their lives and property to help fugitive slaves to escape to freedom.

• Have students read or listen to biographies of Harriet Tubman, such as Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom | Read Aloud | AR Book 4.0Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom | Read Aloud | AR Book 4.0; or Harriet, the Moses of her people. Students may also read this article from the National Museum of African American History Harriet Tubman: Life, Liberty and Legacy | National Museum of African American History and CultureHarriet Tubman: Life, Liberty and Legacy | National Museum of African American History and CultureHarriet Tubman: Life, Liberty and Legacy | National Museum of African American History and Culture.
• The Salem County History Project has developed 7 Steps to Freedom, which tells stories about the struggle in New Jersey against slavery from different points of view - 7 Steps to Freedom | Salem County Cultural & Heritage Commission. Abigail Goodwin’s story is one of the seven stories shared at Abigail Goodwin, Quaker Abolitionist | Salem County Cultural & Heritage; Commission. You are encouraged to read, view and listen to all the stories.
• Have students read and compare the stories of fugitive slaves that William Still collected and published as The Underground Railroad: Authentic Narratives and First-Hand Accounts in 1872. https://archive.org/details/DKC0088/mode/2up

Map Activity: Look at Handout 10: Underground Railroad routes in NJ. Plot the route from to Jersey City, how long would it take a fugitive slave to travel from the south (select a location in Virginia or Maryland) to Jersey City? For example, it is 328 miles from Richmond, Virginia, to Jersey City, New Jersey. How fast do you walk? How many hours can you walk, primarily in the dark, each day? How many days would it take to walk 328 miles? Students should calculate that even if they walked 10-12 hours a day, it would take 27-33 days to walk 328 miles (about 12 miles a day). Students can plot on a map how far they could go each day.

Activity: How did the fugitive slaves know what route to follow? Follow the Drinking Gourd (Winter, 1988) was a song with lyrics that hid directions for following the Underground Railroad. The 'drinking gourd’ is the Big Dipper in the sky which points to the North Star. “When the sun comes back and the first quail calls” means spring. The river that “ends between two hills” was the Tombigbee River. The second was the Tennessee River and the “great big river” was the Ohio River, where fugitives could be ferried across to the free states. The lyrics are listed as Handout 11. Students list the signs and explain what they mean.

Activity: There are many myths about the Underground Railroad. Tales of secret tunnels, trapdoors and secret compartments abound. Many places claim to be sites of the risky operation of moving fugitive slaves from the South to freedom. Since the location of Underground Railroad Stations needed to be kept secret for the operation to be successful, how do we know that certain buildings were secretly used for the Underground Railroad? The existence of certain buildings in New Jersey as sites for the Underground Railroad are often based on oral history, personal letters and the known existence of members of church congregations, primarily AME Churches, as operators for the Underground Railroad. Divide into groups and have groups identify and research one or more of the Underground Railroad sites and/or conductors and justify why they were an important part of the Underground Railroad. Go to African American Contributions to the History of New Jersey: The Underground Railroad in New Jersey and A Guide to the Underground Railroad in New Jersey

5. The end of slavery in New Jersey.

White officers of 4th United States Colored Infantry at leisure, Fort Slocum, District of Columbia, Library of Congress at The United States Colored Troops and the Defenses of Washington (U.S. National Park Service)

In the 1860 census, free persons 0 f color in New Jersey numbered 25,318, or about 4% of the state’s population of 672,035, and 18 “apprentices for life” remained. During the Civil War, 2,900 Colored Troops from New Jersey served in the Union Army. The courage displayed by colored troops during the Civil War played an important role in African Americans gaining new rights. As the abolitionist Frederick Douglass wrote:
"Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship."

However, New Jersey was the last northern state to have slaves. It was not until the ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865 that all New Jerseyans were finally free. The State of New Jersey did not ratify the 13th, 14th or 15th Amendment. However, once they were ratified by 3/4th of the states, New Jersey was forced to abide by them and held a Constitutional Convention in 1875 to conform the state constitution with the Civil War Amendments.

On March 31, 1870, Thomas Mundy Peterson became the first African American to vote in an election under the newly-enacted provisions of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution. See the90-second video at Thomas Mundy Peterson, First African-American Voter

Although the last northern state to abolish slavery, New Jersey was the first northern state to officially apologize for slavery on January 8, 2008:

“The Legislature of the State of New Jersey expressed its profound regret for the State’s role in slavery and apologizes for the wrong inflicted by slavery and its after effects in the United States of America; expresses its deepest sympathies and solemn regrets to those who were enslaved and the descendants of those slaves, who were deprived of life, human dignity, and the constitutional protections accorded all citizens of the United States; and we encourage all citizens to remember and teach their children about the history of slavery, Jim Crow laws, and modern day slavery, to ensure that these tragedies will neither be forgotten nor repeated.”

Activity: Students conduct a mock legislative debate on the issue of whether New Jersey should pay reparations to descendants of former slaves. For background, see Reparations for Slavery | Pros, Cons, Debate, Arguments, & Financial Compensation | Britannica

Assessment

Students write an essay comparing and contrasting New Jersey’s 1804 gradual emancipation law (Handout 5) and the Colonization resolution of 1824 (Handout 6) with the 13, 14 and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution (Handout 12) to explain why the Civil War amendments were necessary for New Jersey as well as the southern states.

Extension

Visit one or more Underground Railroad sites in New Jersey. The following websites might help identify nearby sites:

• VIDEO: Jersey City, The Last “Station” on New Jersey’s Underground Railroad
• “Pathways to Freedom: A Tour of Underground Railroad Sites in Camden County, NJ” Touring the Underground Railroad in New Jersey | NJ Spotlight News
• Salem County Cultural & Heritage Commission 7 Steps to Freedom | Salem County Cultural & Heritage Commission
• The Historic City of Burlington Underground Railroad Tour Underground Railroad Museum | Burlington County, NJ - Official Website
• State of New Jersey Underground Railroad in New Jersey: Must-See Historic Sites | VisitNJ.org

Resources:

Douglas Harper, Slavery in the North (2003) at Slavery in New Jersey
Princeton and Slavery at Legislating Slavery in New Jersey
New Jersey Historical Commission at New Jersey, The Last Northern State to End Slavery
“Steal Away, Steal Away…” A guide to the Underground Railroad in New Jersey at A Guide to the Underground Railroad in New Jersey

Handout 1

The Concession and Agreement of the Lords Proprietors of the Province of New Caesarea, or New Jersey, 1664

AND THAT THE PLANTING OF THE SAID PROVINCE MAY BE THE MORE SPEEDILY PROMOTED

I. We do hereby grant unto all persons who have already adventured to the said Province of New Caesarea or New Jersey, or shall transport themselves, or servants, before the first day of January, which shall be in the year of our Lord one thousand six-hundred sixty-five, these following proportions, viz: To every freeman that shall go with the first Governor, from the port where he embarques, or shall meet him at the rendezvous he appoints, for the settlement of a plantation there, arm'd with a good musket, bore twelve bullets to the pound, with ten pounds of powder, and twenty pounds of bullets, with bandiliers and match convenient, and with six months provision for his own person arriving there, one hundred and fifty acres of land English measure; and for every able servant that he shall carry with him, arm'd and provided as aforesaid, and arriving there, the like quantity of one hundred and fifty acres English measure: And whosoever shall send servants at that time, shall have for every man servant he or she shall send, armed and provided as aforesaid, and arrive there, the like quantity of one hundred and fifty acres: And for every weaker servant. or slave, male or female, exceeding the age of fourteen years, which any one shall send or carry, arriving there, seventy-five acres of land: And for every Christian servant, exceeding the age aforesaid, after the expiration of their time of service, seventy-five acres of land for their own use.

(Full document may be found at The Avalon Project: The Duke of York's Release to John Ford Berkeley, and Sir George Carteret, 24th of June,1664 at The Avalon Project : The Concession and Agreement of the Lords Proprietors of the Province of New Caesarea, or New Jersey)

Handout 2

To the Speediest Improvement of the Province - Queen Anne’s Instruction to Lord Cornbury, 1702

..And in order to the better consolidating and incorporating of the two of East and West New Jersey into and under one government

…
You shall give all due encouragement and invitation to merchants and others who shall bring trade unto our said province or in any way contribute to the advantage thereof and, in particular, the Royal African Company of England…

And whereas we are willing to recommend unto the said company that the said province may have a constant and sufficient supply of merchantable Negroes at moderate rate in money or commodities so you are to take especial care that payment be duly made and within competent time

Handout 3

Excerpts from “Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes” John Woolman, 1754

…When we remember that all nations are of one blood (Gen. 3:20); that in this world we are but sojourners; that we are subject to the like afflictions and infirmities of the body, the like disorders and frailties in mind, the like temptations, the same death and the same judgment; and that the All-wise Being is judge and Lord over us all, it seems to raise an idea of a general brotherhood and a disposition easy to be touched with feeling of each other’s afflictions. But when we forget those things and look chiefly at our outward circumstances, in this and some ages past, constantly retaining in our minds the distinction betwixt us and them with respect to our knowledge and improvement in things divine, natural, and artificial, our breasts being apt to be filled with fond notions of superiority, there is danger of erring in our conduct toward them.

. . . To consider mankind otherwise than brethren, to think favours are peculiar to one nation and exclude others, plainly supposes a darkness in the understanding. For as God’s love is universal, so where the mind is sufficiently influenced by it, it begets a likeness of itself and the heart is enlarged towards all men. Again, to conclude a people forward, perverse, and worse by nature than others (who ungratefully receive favours and apply them to bad ends), this will excite a behavior toward them unbecoming the excellence of true religion.

To prevent such error let us calmly consider their circumstances, and, the better to do it, make their case ours. Suppose, then, that our ancestors and we have been exposed to constant servitude in the more servile and inferior employments of life; that we had been destitute of the help of reading and good company; that amongst ourselves we had had few wise and pious instructors; that the religious amongst our superiors seldom took notice of us; that while others in ease have plentifully heaped up the fruit of our labour, we had received barely enough to relieve nature, and being wholly at the command of others had generally been treated as a comtemptible, ignorant part of mankind. Should we, in that case, be less abject than they are now? Again, if oppression be so hard to bear that a wise man is made mad by it (Eccles. 7:7), then a series of those things altering the behavior and manners of a people is what may reasonably be expected.

When our property is taken contrary to our mind by means appearing to us unjust, it is only through divine influence and the enlargement of heart from thence proceeding that we can love our reputed oppressors. If the Negroes fall short in this, an uneasy, if not disconsolate, disposition will be awakened and remain like seeds in their minds, producing sloth and many other habits appearing odious to us, with which being free men they perhaps had not been chargeable. These and other circumstances, rightly considered, will lessen that too great disparity which some make between us and them.

…It may be objected there is cost of purchase and risk of their lives to them who possess ‘em, and therefore needful that they make the best use of their time. In a practice just and reasonable such objections may have weight; but if the work be wrong from the beginning, there’s little or no force in them. If I purchase a man who hath never forfeited his liberty, the natural right of freedom is in him. And shall I keep him and his posterity in servitude and ignorance? How should I approve of this conduct were I in his circumstances and he is mine?...

We may further consider that they are now amongst us, and those of our nation the cause of their being here, that whatsoever difficulty accrues thereon we are justly chargeable with, and to bear all inconveniences attending it with a serious and weighty concern of mind to do our duty by them is the best we can do. To seek a remedy by continuing the oppression because we have power to do it and see others do it, will, I apprehend, not be doing as we would be done by.

From The Journal and Major Essays of John Woolman, Phillips P. Moulton (ed.) (New York 1971) 

Handout 4

John Cooper Advocated the Abolition of Slavery

(From the New-Jersey Gazette, Sept. 20, 1780)

Whilst we are spilling our blood and exhausting our treasure in defence of our own liberty, it would not perhaps be amiss to turn our eyes towards those of our fellow-men who are now groaning in bondage under us. We say “all men are equally entitled to liberty and the pursuit of happiness;” but are we willing to grant this liberty to all men? The sentiment no doubt is just as well as generous; and must ever be read to our praise, provided our actions correspond therewith. But if after we have made such a declaration to the world, we continue to hold our fellow creatures in slavery, our words must rise up in judgement against us, and by the breath of our own mouths we shall stand condemned.

…And if we keep our present slaves in bondage, and only enact laws that their posterity shall be free, we save that part of our tyranny and gain of oppression, which to us, the present generation, is of the most value.

Handout 5

An act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, Feb. 15, 1804

From http://njlegallib.rutgers.edu/slavery/acts/A78.html

SEC. 1. BE it enacted by the Council and General Assembly of this State, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That every child born of a slave within this state, after the fourth day of July next, shall be free; but shall remain the servant of the owner of his or her mother, and the executors, administrators or assigns of such owner, in the same manner as if such child had been bound to service by the trustees or overseers of the poor, and shall continue in such service, if a male, until the age of twenty five years; and if a female until the age of twenty one years.

2. And be it enacted, That every person being an inhabitant of this state, who shall be entitled to the service of a child born as aforesaid, after the said fourth day of July next, shall within nine months after the birth of such child, cause to be delivered to the clerk of the county whereof such person shall be an inhabitant, a certificate in writing, containing the name and addition of such person, and the name, age, and sex of the child so born; which certificate, whether the same be delivered before or after the said nine months; shall be by the said clerk recorded in a book to be by him provided for that purpose; and such record thereof shall be good evidence of the age of such child; and the clerk of such county shall receive from said person twelve cents for every child so registered: and if any person shall neglect to deliver such certificate to the said clerk within the said nine months, such person shall forfeit and pay for every such offence, five dollars, and the further sum of one dollar for every month such person shall neglect to deliver the same, to be sued for and recovered by any person who will sue for the same, the one half to the use of such prosecutor, and the residue to the use of the poor of the township in which such delinquent shall reside.

3. And be it enacted, That the person entitled to the service of any child born as aforesaid, may, nevertheless within one year after the birth of such child, elect to abandon such right; in which case a notification of such abandonment, under the hand of such person, shall be filed with the clerk of the township, or where there may be a county poorhouse established, then with the clerk of the board of trustees of said poor-house of the county in which such person shall reside; but every child so abandoned shall be maintained by such person until such child arrives to the age of one year, and thereafter shall be considered as a pauper of such township or county, and liable to be bound out by the trustees or overseers of the poor in the same manner as other poor children are directed to be bound cut, until, if a male, the age of twenty five, and if a female, the age of twenty one; and such child, while such pauper, until it shall be bound out, shall be maintained by the trustees or overseers of the poor of such county or township, as the case may be, at the expense of this state; and for that purpose the director of the board of chosen freeholders of the county, is hereby required, from time to time, to draw his warrant on the treasurer in favor of such trustees or overseers for the amount of such expense, not exceeding the rate of three dollars per month; provided the accounts for the same be first certified and approved by such board of trustees, or the town committee of such township; and every person who shall omit to notify such abandonment as aforesaid, shall be considered as having to retain the service of such child, and be liable for its maintenance until the period to which its servitude is limited as aforesaid.

Handout 6

NJ State Legislature Resolution supporting colonization of slaves, 1824

RESOLVED that in the opinion of this Legislature, a system of foreign colonization, with correspondent measures might be adopted, that would in due time effect the entire emancipation of the slaves in our country, and furnish an asylum for the free blacks without any violation of the national compact or infringement of the rights of individuals; and that such a system should be predicated upon the principle that the evils of slavery is a national one, and that the people and the states of the Union ought mutually to participate in the duties and the burdens in removing it.

Handout 7

Slaves and Freed Colored Persons by County 1820

(There were 13 counties in New Jersey in 1820)

County	Total Population	Slave Population	Free Colored Population
Bergen	18,178	1,683	1,059
Burlington	28,822	82	1,261
Cape May	426	28	205
Cumberland	12,668	18	605
Essex	30,793	659	1,390
Gloucester	23,089	39	1,064
Hunterdon	28,604	616	1,443
Middlesex	21,470	1,012	1,033
Monmouth	25,038	1,248	982
Morris	21,368	657	457
Salem	14,022	15	1,001
Somerset	16,506	1,122	1,487
Sussex	32,752	378	473
Total State	273,736	7,557	12,460

From: 1820 Census Records | National Archives

Handout 8

Slaves and Freed Colored Persons in NJ by county, 1850

County	Total Population	Total No. Slaves	Total No. Free Colored Persons
Atlantic	8,961	1	217
Bergen	14,725	41	1,624
Burlington	43,203	0	2,109
Camden	25,422	0	2,230
Cape May	6,433	0	247
Cumberland	17,189	0	1,130
Essex	73,950	6	2,328
Gloucester	14,655	0	620
Hudson	21,822	3	500
Hunterdon	28,990	9	808
Mercer	27,992	6	2,036
Middlesex	28,635	11	1,369
Monmouth	30,313	75	2,323
Morris	30,158	19	1,008
Ocean	10,032	0	140
Passaic	22,569	31	615
Salem	19,467	0	2,075
Somerset	19,989	31	1,711
Sussex	22,989	1	340
Warren	22,358	2	380
NJ State	489,555	236	23,810

From 1850 - New Jersey

Handout 9

Excerpts from

The New Jersey State Constitution, 1844

Article I. Rights and Privileges.

1. All men are by nature free and independent, and have certain natural and unalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and of pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness.

Article II. Right of Suffrage.

1. Every white male citizen of the United States, of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been a resident of this State one year, and of the county, in which he claims his vote five months, next before the election, shall be entitled to vote for all officers that now are, or hereafter may be elective by the people; provided, that no person in the military, naval, or marine service of the United States shall be considered a resident in this State, by being stationed in any garrison, barrack, or military or naval place or station within this State, and no pauper idiot, insane person, or persons convicted of a crime which now excludes him from being a witness unless pardoned or restored by law to the right of suffrage, shall enjoy the right of an elector.

From New Jersey State Constitution of 1844

Handout 10

Handout 11

Follow the Drinking Gourd

Chorus

Follow the drinking gourd!
Follow the drinking gourd!
For the old man is a waiting for to carry you to freedom
if you follow the drinking gourd.
When the sun comes back and the first quail calls,
Follow the drinking gourd.
For the old man is a waiting for to carry you to freedom
if you follow the drining gourd.

The riverbank mades a very good road,
The dead trees will show you the way.
Left foot, peg foot, traveling on.
Following the drinking gourd.

Chorus

The river ends between two hills,
Follow the drinking gourd.
There’s another river on the other side,
Follow the drinking gourd.

Chorus

When the great big river meets the little river,
Follow the drinking gourd.
For the old man is a-waiting for to carry you to freedom
If you follow the drinking gourd.

Chorus

Handout 12

Civil War Amendments to the United States Constitution

13th Amendment (ratified 1865)

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

14th Amendment (ratified 1868)

All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States, and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law or abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any Sate deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

15th Amendment (ratified 1870)

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.