Newark's volatile past is infamous. The city has become synonymous with
the Black Power movement and urban crisis. Its history reveals a vibrant
and contentious political culture punctuated by traditional civic pride
and an understudied tradition of protest in the black community.
Newark charts this important city's place in the nation, from its
founding in 1666 by a dissident Puritan as a refuge from intolerance,
through the days of Jim Crow and World War II civil rights activism, to
the height of postwar integration and the election of its first black
mayor.
In this broad and balanced history of Newark, Kevin Mumford applies the
concept of the public sphere to the problem of race relations,
demonstrating how political ideas and print culture were instrumental in
shaping African American consciousness. He draws on both public and
personal archives, interpreting official documents - such as newspapers,
commission testimony, and government records--alongside interviews,
political flyers, meeting minutes, and rare photos.
From the migration out of the South to the rise of public housing and
ethnic conflict, Newark explains the impact of African Americans on
the reconstruction of American cities in the twentieth century.