Gillette, Jr., Howard. Camden after the fall: decline and renewal in a post-industrial city.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005.
● August 19 - 21, 1971 – protest in front of City Hall because police chief refused to act on officers who
beat a PR man to death and Mayor Nardi rebuffed requests for a meeting
● Makes reference to 1971 riots as one of main reasons of white-flight from Camden City (p. 39)
● Describes riots as a test of Mayor Nardi to carefully nurse the rebirth of Camden City (pp. 84 – 86)
Fitzpatrick, Joseph P. Puerto Rican Americans: The Meaning of Migration to the Mainland. Englewood Cliffs:
Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1971.
● Mentions Jersey City, Paterson, Passaic, Perth Amboy, and Trenton riots (p. 75)
● States that riots were usually set off by a complaint of police brutality but reflect the accumulation of
grievances regarding numerous social issues (p. 75)
Dorwart, Jeffrey M. Camden County, New Jersey: The Making of a Metropolitan Community 1626-2000. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2001.
● Mentions that Mayor Nardi inherited a city simmering in revolution
● August 1967 - Shopkeepers reported constant vandalism since H. Rap Brown's inflammatory speech
that urged blacks to fight against the white establishment (pp. 153-154)
● Attributed riot to arrest and fatal death of Horacio Jimenez by police, nonviolent protestors met in front
of City Hall to demand suspension of the officers (p. 154)
● Black activist "Poppy" Sharp announced his support for the Puerto Rican community because they were
also victims of police brutality (p. 154)
● Riot marked final migration of white population and businesses from the city (p. 155)
Norwood, Christopher. About Paterson: the making and unmaking of an American City. New
York: Saturday Review Press, 1974.
● City administration quickly dubbed the PR riot a "disturbance" (p. 15)
● Discusses the events/ City administration's issues that led up to the PR riots and the affects it had on the
Mayor, his administration and the City of Paterson (begins on p. 116)
Curvin, Robert. Inside Newark: Decline, Rebellion, and the Search for Transformation. New Brunswick:
Rutgers University Press, 2013.
● Fifth time Puerto Ricans were permitted to use Branch Brook Park because North Ward Italians blocked
their petitions (p. 170)
● Mounted police came upon Puerto Rican men playing a dice game and knocked over the table (p. 170)
● The crowd responded by throwing cans and rocks at the police, 80 patrol cars responded and Mayor
Gibson showed up to calm tensions (p. 170)
● Gibson wanted to have a meeting in City Hall, Amiri Baraka joined negotiations, creating 2 separate
negotiating teams: one of younger Puerto Rican protestors, the other of older established Puerto Ricans
● Negotiations were unsuccessful, demonstrators firebombed and looted stores, police inaction praised by
Puerto Rican leaders but condemned by merchants (p. 174)
● Puerto Rican leadership divided by age and issue of independence or statehood for Puerto Rico (p. 175)
● Riot was a turning point for the Puerto Rican community in Newark and New Jersey (p.175)
Research Paper
Regalado, Pedro. End of Days: The "Puerto Rican" Riots of 1971. Loyola University Chicago: History class.
● p. 6 "[Hispanic/ PR riots] have entered a state of scholarly ambiguity in
contemporary records of this era."
Click here to download PDF
My Account | Join Our Email List | Calendar | Hours | Support NPL | Ask Us | Translate | About Us | Reserve a Room |
Catalog