Civil Rights in New Jersey before the 1950s

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Civil Rights in New Jersey before the 1950s

• Voting rights revoked in 1807 1844 constitution
  expressly restricted the franchise to white
  males.
• Many whites in New Jersey actively supported the
  colonization movement during the 1850s.
• During the Civil War era whites in New Jersey
  were often hostile to the aspirations of African
  Americans.
• Many people wanted the Constitution as it is,
  the Nation as it was.

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Reconstruction Amendments

• New Jersey did not ratify the 13th Amendment
  until after it became federal law.
• In 1867, the state rescinded ratification of the
  14th amendment.
• The 15th amendment was not ratified until 1871
• But Thomas Mundy, of Perth Amboy, was the first
  person to vote under the protection of the 15th
  amendment.

Thomas Mundy
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1870s and 1880s saw significant legal gains

• In 1872, Newark desegregated its public schools.
• 1881 New Jersey School Law made it illegal to
  deny a child a public education because of race.
• 1884 case of Pierce v. Union District Trustees
  (Burlington City) ostensibly outlawed segregation
  in public schools throughout the state.
• 1884 Civil Rights Law outlawed discrimination in
  public transportation, lodging, and
  entertainment.

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End of European immigration results in huge
influx of African Americans in the 1920s
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The Georgia of the North

• African Americans faced endemic prejudice, which
  resulted in the formation of urban ghettos.
• Prior to the New Deal, black workers were, by and
  large, excluded from higher paying jobs and labor
  unions.
• In the face of discrimination, many black leaders
  in New Jersey preached racial solidarity.
• Bordentown School (1886-1955) was New Jerseys
  Tuskegee of the North.

Lewis Hine photograph of hairdressers at the
Bordentown School, 1935 (www.geh.org)
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Incremental gains during the 1930s and 1940s

• African American newspapers, such as the New
  Jersey Herald News vigorously protested
  discriminatory practices.
• Segregation in public schools became worse in
  many parts of the state because white
  administrators and parents did not want white
  children mixing with poorly prepared and
  unhealthy migrants from the Souththere were 75
  separate black schools in 1935.
• The New Deal and World War II employment improved
  the economic status of African Americans.
• African Americans became more politically
  assertive and organized many economic boycotts
  buy where you can work campaigns.
• In 1937, Guy Moorehead, from Newark, became the
  1st Democratic Assemblyman in state history.
• In 1938, the state formed the Urban Colored
  Population Commission to improve employment,
  education, and housing conditions for blacks.
• FDRs Executive Order 8802 opened up defense jobs
  to African Americans.

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The foundation of modern civil rights

• In 1945, New Jersey outlawed discrimination in
  employment and created a Division Against
  Discrimination within the Department of
  Education.
• The 1947 state constitution forbid segregation in
  the militia and public schools New Jerseys law
  was a catalyst for President Trumans action in
  regard to the Armed Services.
• The 1949 Freeman Act empowered the state to
  investigate individual complaints of
  discrimination in 1954, discrimination in public
  housing was prohibited.