THE KRUEGER-SCOTT AFRICAN-AMERICAN CULTURAL CENTER: INDIVIDUAL NARRATIVES, COLLECTIVE IMPLICATIONS by KATIE SINGER A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-Newark Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in American Studies Written under the direction of Robert W. Snyder, chair Mark Krasovic Sterling L. Bland Linda Shopes and approved by _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ __________________________ Newark, New Jersey October 2017 © 2017 Katie Singer ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Table of Contents Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………..page iv INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………page 1 CHAPTER ONE: Narrative of the Krueger-Scott Mansion Project: Constructing Newark History…...page 7 Introduction Gottfried Krueger The Masons Louise Scott The Nation, Newark, and the 1960s Place and Power The City Takes Charge Phase I Phase II Phase III Phase IV CHAPTER TWO: Krueger-Scott and Oral History………………………………page 75 A Brief History of Oral History The Interviewer Insiders versus Outsiders Souvenirs Individual Memory Collective Memory Respectability Who Gets to Speak A Reliable Source A Stand-Alone Source Conclusion CHAPTER THREE: Sundays…………………………………………………………page 130 Introduction Origins of the Black Church The Black Church as Community Bethany Baptist Church Queen of Angels Personal Reasons Nobody Here is Perfect Politicians and the Church ii Sunday Best Sundays on the Field Sunday Leisures Radio Sundays Conclusion CHAPTER FOUR: Workdays…………………………………………………………page 206 Introduction PAID WORK The Thirties and Forties Domestic Work Non-Domestic The Fifties and Sixties Getting Work Nursing SOCIO-POLITICAL WORK Women’s Work Men at Work Ministry Conclusion CHAPTER FIVE: Hot Days……………………………………………………page 276 Introduction Fires Firefighting Important Event Memory and Fire Community Cooperation Personal Fires Fear of Fire A Particular Fire - the Rebellion Words “Riot” The Narrative Perceptions Conclusion CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………page 340 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………..page 345 Illustrations………………………………………………………………………page 360 iii Acknowledgments This dissertation is a reflection of the work of so very many people, both directly and indirectly. My dissertation committee - chair, Robert W. Snyder, Sterling L. Bland, and Mark Krasovic - has contributed indeed with their detailed commentary, deep historical knowledge, and supportive correspondence and meetings. I am also very grateful to my “fourth reader,” oral historian Linda Shopes, for lending her time and expertise to this project. It is truly an honor to talk “shop” with her. As well, if it were not for Dr. Maurice Lee I would never have started an academic career in the first place – he is forever responsible and culpable. I have to thank profusely my colleague Dr. Samantha Boardman who has got to be the most generous scholar I know. In time and talent and resources she has given me much of that which allows this manuscript to even exist. I want to also shout out Rutgers University-NEWARK for being the place that it is. And I want to tell the city of Newark that I will always love it. Speaking of loving forever, my children, Kayla and Jake, are the best children any parent could have. They have been supportive, informative, and most of all restorative throughout this bizarre process that their mother decided to embark upon. They will never totally understand what that has meant to me. I also happen to have a whole lot of wonderful friends who have had my back and poured me wine during these past years. Suzanne got me through an especially tricky moment in academia and for that I will be forever grateful. I also have to thank my First Baptist Church family in Madison, New Jersey for being a true site of sanctuary. And then there is Dr. Clement A. Price. I thank my neighbor, Dr. Julia Miller, for introducing me to this man. As with so many other students at Rutgers-Newark, Dr. Price was my mentor, my friend, a prophet and a role model. When he passed we all lost a little something in us never to return. Clem was to have been on my dissertation committee and thus I wrote every word of this imagining his thoughtful gaze upon the page. I hope you like it, Clem. iv 1 INTRODUCTION In Voices of the Fugitives: Runaway Slave Stories and Their Fictions of Self- Creation Sterling Bland writes, “By developing out of the memory and recollection of a shared African-American experience, the slave narratives describe a reality that is simultaneously individual and collective.”1 Oral histories provide a kind of all-of-the- above source that requires careful analysis before any sorts of conclusions can be drawn. Oral historians consequently disrupt, even as they restore. This study attempts to do both as well - to disrupt well entrenched tropes and restore missing histories - all towards the goal of continuing enlightenment with regard to African-American history, urban experience, Newark, New Jersey, and those who live there. But why Newark? Newarkers find themselves beholden to others quite often, in the shadow of those wielding power. Whether it is corporations demanding tax emptions to relocate, or the Brooklyn Dodgers stealing away Eagles fans once they signed Jackie Robinson, Newark is often placed in a position of catch-up and compromise. Its geographical location, in Northern New Jersey yet just across the river from New York City, can be both a help and a hindrance in this process. Newark’s waterways made it one of the earliest thriving industrial cities, putting it “on the map” for everything from beer to patent leather. Its proximity to New York allowed for a vibrant jazz scene – and also some additional citizens who got off the train at Newark Penn Station believing they heard New York Penn Station. But it also loses out to its next-door-neighbor, New York, and remains an outcast to surrounding New Jersey towns. Newark is a complicated city with complicated relations. It is, most importantly, a city which has been left out of too many discussions 1 Sterling Lecater Bland, Voices of the Fugitives: Runaway Slave Stories and their Fictions of Self-Creation (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2000) 30, 122. 2 on urban history, even as it promises to provide so very many insights on that subject. Here we will look at Newark through its historical preservation efforts and then through those preserved stories told by a group of its African-American citizens. In doing so we will consider these individual narratives and their collective implications. Beginning with the story of the Krueger-Scott African-American Cultural Center, chapter one paints a picture of Newark during the 1980s and 1990s. While the Center itself never came to fruition, this is not so much a story of failure as one of collective effort. We witness in this chapter just how complicated historical preservation can be and ask what race and geographical location may have done to further complicate matters in this case. Lessons in Black history and government process arise among the never-ending details of funding a history project in a city working hard to start fresh. Here we witness a battle between ideologies surrounding economics, historical preservation and the value in commemorating Black life. In chapter two we look at the oral history collection that was generated as part of the Cultural Center project. 107 African Americans who live in Newark were interviewed by their peers: fellow church members, friends, acquaintances and even family were tasked with conducting these interviews. This unique aspect of the collection makes for much discussion in terms of theory and methodology within the field of oral history. Looking at the questions asked, the interlocutors, and the answers, we come to some conclusions about where this particular collection falls within the contemporary practices of oral history. Furthermore we consider the ways that oral histories, in general, can be useful to the construction of history. How does memory, both collective and individual, inform these narratives? And oral history, after all being a dialogue, moves us to ask what 3 we can learn from listening to that which is said – as well as that which is not. What is it we are even in possession of anyway? What is oral history? These are some of the questions considered alongside the field’s evolutionary process and its accompanying literature. In chapter three begins the foregrounding of the voices of the Krueger-Scott narrators as they tell us about church, fashion, food and leisure. In discussing their Sundays, the narrators speak also to issues of race, religious freedom, newcomers, and community support. The Black church as center of the Black community has been established, but what does that look like in the week-to-week experiences of the many churchgoers if the Krueger-Scott community? After highlighting some of the most prominent churches represented in the narratives, we look at how churches in general worked as social service outposts, even as we witness some examples of insular congregations and their members. And what else did these Newarkers do on Sundays? Well, they ate ice cream, listened to music, and went to Eagles baseball games. This chapter collects stories about Sundays, highlighting collective experiences while also noting the many individual, unique and sometimes contradictory stories that emerge alongside. Chapter four concerns “work days,” days spent on the paying job as well as at work for the betterment of the community. African Americans were tasked with double duty quite often as they were forced to make inroads at work and within their civic spaces. Paths were blocked by racist, classist systems, and perceptions that slowed down the progress of many Black city residents nationwide. In Newark’s famously political space, activism was a hard thing to avoid. The Krueger-Scott narrators were shop 4 stewards and organizers, social service administrators, and publicly disgruntled employees; here they tell of these experiences in their own words.