The Black Migration and Newark:
Price’s “The Afro-American
Community of Newark, 19171947: A Social History”
Newark on Eve of Black Migration







Newark was thriving industrial center.
Annexation plans failed.
Zoning rules locked in current patterns of land use.
High pollution and illness rates among poor.
Rising taxes and falling tax base.
Losing middle and upper class residents to suburbs.
Massive housing shortage.
Population of Newark, 1870-1970
(Thousands of People)
350
Foreign Born
300
Black
Native Born-White
250
200
150
100
50
0
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
1950
1960
1970
% of Newark Residents by Group, 1870-1970
70%
60%
Foreign
Black
50%
Native-White
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
1950
1960
1970
Themes: African Americans in Newark
Before War II

Moved North in search of industrial jobs (esp. after drop of
Euro migration).
 Though discrimination was present, there was still a
(relatively) high rate of employment among Blacks.
 Type of jobs tended to be industrial and low skilled.
 Discrimination kept Blacks out of unions and from rising
to higher paid positions.
 Because they were the poorest and newest group, they
tended live in neighborhoods with worst housing and near
industrial areas.
 Government policies made things worse.
Black Migration and Newark

Starting in 1916 blacks started to come to Newark in
increasing numbers.
 B/t 1915 and 1920, Black population increased in
Newark by 80%.
 “Large numbers worked in factories such as Flochart
Foundry, Coe’s Steel Company, Carnegie Steel
Company, Benjamin Atha Steel Company and
Worthington Pump Company.”
 “Moreover, with European immigration virtually
choked off by the war, the state’s industrial interests
actively encourage the migration of blacks to cities such
as Newark.”
Source: Price
Euro and Black Migration

Quota on European immigration in mid-1920s and need
push to complete several large scale public works
projects, such as Penn Station, the city subway, and the
Wanaque reservoir system, many Newark industries
were short of unskilled workers.
 Employers actively recruited Black workers from the
South.
 From 1920 to 1930, the number of Blacks employed in
unskilled factory work (mainly men) and domestic
service (mainly women) doubled.
 For the few years prior to the beginning of the
Depression, Blacks were fully employed.
Source: Schwartz: “Roth, Race and Newark”
Scatter Plot: Growth Rates of Foreign
Born vs. Blacks in Newark, 1870-1970
0.60
0.30
0.00
-0.30
-0.25
-0.20
-0.15
-0.10
-0.05
Foreign Born Grow th Rate
0.00
0.05
0.10
-0.30
African American Growth Rate
0.90
Employment

1920: 4% of population was Black (17,000
Blacks on total).
 Total Employment was 9,118 (54% of Black
pop.)
 1939: 9% Black, Total Employment, 8468
(53%)
 Today, Newark PMSA has
employment/pop. is about 60%.
 1940 it was about 55.7% for whole pop.
Domestic &
% of Total Black Male Labor, 1920
Personal
Other
12%
3%
Professional
2%
Public Sector
2%
Transportation &
Trade
26%
Manufacturing and
Mechanical
55%
% of Blacks in Newark in Each Employment Category, 1920
15
10
5
0
Manufacturing
Transportation &
Public Sector
Professional
Domestic &
and Mechanical
Trade (laborers,
Workers
Occupations
Personal Service
Industries
clerks, etc.)
Housing

Unlike Harlem, substandard housing conditions
were significant proportion of housing units before
migration.
 In the Third Ward (Central Ward) living conditions
had been declining for many years: housing stock
had been tenement housing for other immigrant
groups: Germans, Russians and Jews.
 Zoning Plan of 1920, “locked in” 3rd ward:
allowing mixture of stores, tenements, factories,
and stables” making situation worse for new
arrivals.
 The city itself was out of housing.
The Rise of the Ghetto

Definition: Residential and geographic clustering
due to low social and economic standing.
 Rise of Newark ghetto in 1920s
 “Between 1910 and 1920 the general shortage of
housing in Newark, racial discrimination, and
poverty made settlement outside the central city
more difficult.”
 White sentiment towards Black influx reinforced
patterns of concentration.
Source: Price
Government Policies in Newark

Lack of annexation failed to put Newark into a regional political
framework with the neighboring towns in Essex and Union
counties.
 Then, Newark adopted the commissioner/mayor form of
government which intended to be an improvement over corrupt
ward politics.
 Under the new commissioner/mayor plan, there were now only
city-wide elections for five commissioners: Public Works, Public
Safety, Parks and Public Property, Revenue and Finance and
Public Affairs. Then the five Commissioners selected the mayor.
 Under this system Blacks had little political power and were
essentially disenfranchised since they were still a city-wide
minority.
 With few civil service statutes, the commissioners ran their
domains for personal gain and gain of associates linked to the
party machines, businessmen, the Catholic Church, and
bootleggers, for example.
Schwartz: “Roth, Race and Newark”