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The summer of 1967 was one that defined the city of Newark: From the time the rebellion began on Wednesday, July 12, to the conclusion on Monday, July 17, 26 people died and 750 people were injured. The events that took place throughout Mid-July that year changed the history of Newark forever. 00000177-b008-d5f4-a5ff-b9f8b5180000This timeline depicts the events of what occurred throughout the six days of unrest throughout the City of Newark in the Summer of 1967. Please click on the interactive timeline below to learn more on what happened.Information for this timeline was provided by author and historian Junius Williams, and his website riseupnorth.comAnd please watch this page for new features and a special live broadcast of Newark Today, 8pm on Thursday, July 13th.00000177-b008-d5f4-a5ff-b9f8b5180003

Newark's Summer of '67: Then and Now

Star-Ledger and the Newark Public Library

As we mark the 50th anniversary of the Newark Rebellion we take a look back at what led up to the incident that would become a defining moment for the city and what has changed since those hot summer days in July of 1967.

It was a hot and steamy evening on July 12th 1967, when black cab driver John Smith was arrested and beaten by white police officers after a routine traffic stop. Rumors that Smith had died spread throughout the city and residents took to the streets. Newark became the epicenter of black rage. 26 people died, more than 700 injured, and nearly 1,500 arrested.

Late activist, poet, and Newark native Amiri Baraka, said people were worried about education, substandard living conditions, and racial profiling, and were watching the larger civil rights movement unfold.

“And Dr. King was essentially talking about peace and love, and turn the other cheek, and you know Christianity, human brotherhood, we sat and watched him get beat up everyday on television. People spit in your face and spit on you, and then we began to think well why should we put up with that. There’s nothing on the planet that mandates that you have to accept this kind of treatment.”

Long time community activist, the late Bob Curvin, saw the first rocks and Molotov cocktails fly. Curvin says he was not surprised

“We lived in a powder keg, and if it was not John Smith, it would’ve been Harry Jones or Mary Brown, or somebody. Something would’ve happened I believe that would’ve sparked a period of violence in the city.”

Monsignor William Linder was a newly ordained white priest recently assigned to the all black Queen of Angles parish. Lender says the police perpetrated much of the violence.

“I was walking along 17th ave, and they were distributing the shotguns to the police, they had never seen shotguns before. The police didn’t understand the damage one shotgun can do.”

Linder says when the Governor called in the National Guard, things got even worse. Surprising as it sounds today, no charges were ever filed in relation to any of the deaths that occurred during Newark’s summer of 67.

“These kids were using M-1 Rifles, I mean you would never give someone that without a lot of training. People were responsible for that, yet we never held them responsible, we never held them responsible for what we should have.”

After the rebellion residents demanded change. Newark elected its first African American Mayor in 1970 Kenneth Gibson. Gibson says the images of the rebellion still haunt the city to this day.

“Hundreds of image of stores broken into on Springfield Avenue. But the city did not burn, in fact there was no neighborhood in the city of Newark that burned, , but those images created the image for the city of Newark, that continues today.”

Credit Alexandra Hill
Mayor Ras Baraka being sworn into office on July 1st 2014at NJPAC in Newark NJ.

The son of the late poet Amiri Baraka is now the leader of the city. Mayor Ras Baraka was sworn into office in 2014, vowing to take the city into the future.

“A mayor that puts his city first. A mayor that never forgets how he got here, yeah we need a Mayor that’s radical.”

But poverty and unemployment rates remain higher than the national average.  Last year the police department was put under federal consent decree after the Justice Department found widespread civil rights violation at the hands of the Newark Police.

Alexandra Hill began her work with WBGO in June of 2012 in the news department. A graduate of the Rutgers Newark journalism program, Alexandra was also a student of WBGO News Director Doug Doyle. Alexandra has since become the lead general assignment reporter, afternoon news anchor, and producer of the award winning live call in show Newark Today. Since working for WBGO Alexandra has covered politics in and around Newark including the 2014 mayoral campaign of Mayor Ras Baraka as well as the senate campaigns of former Newark Mayor and now U.S. Senator Cory Booker in both 2013 and 2014. Alexandra also covers a host of human-interest stories, and has been recognized by the New York Association Of Black Journalists for her piece entitled Sheltering Newark’s Homeless.