Katia Yoza-Mitsuishi

According to the United States Census of 2020, the percentage of Black or African American people in New Brunswick is currently 15.3% of the total population.[1] However, three decades before in 1990, the Black population in New Brunswick was 29.6%, the highest percentage of New Brunswick’s total population since 1850, according to David Listokin, Dorothea Berkhout, and James W. Hughes in New Brunswick, New Jersey: The Decline and Revitalization of Urban America (2016).[2] Listokin et al. also conclude that the influx of non-Black residents is connected to the decrease in New Brunswick’s Black population from 1990 to 2010.[3] Both the influx of new Latino individuals and families, and a continued decrease in the resident Black community, have led to a decrease in both the total population and representative percentage of New Brunswick's Black community. Indeed, according to the United States Census of 2020, the Hispanic or Latino population in New Brunswick is now 45.7% of the city’s total population.[4] However, Latinos were only 19.3% in 1990, and 49.9% in 2010, after Mexican migration began to increase significantly.[5]

Development projects in New Brunswick also impacted the decline of the Black community by pushing out public housing and making new development unaffordable. The study Pushed Out: Housing Displacement in an Unaffordable Region by the Regional Plan Association shows how rising housing costs and the growing popularity of walkable neighborhoods displace low-income residents. In those neighborhoods, Black communities form a significant percentage. In fact, people of color are two-thirds of this displaced population. This study emphasizes the continuity of this trend and the risk of displacement for millions of low-income Black residents in the tri-state area.[6]

During the postwar period, New Brunswick was reshaped by deindustrialization and suburbanization.[7] Factories—affected by low-wage manufacturing industries elsewhere—laid off their workers, while the mostly white population moved from cities to the suburbs where housing and taxes were lower.[8] Mainly middle-class white families left New Brunswick, so the representative percentage of the Black population in the city grew from 10.2 % in 1950 to 15.4 % in 1960, and to 22.7 % in 1970.[9]

In the summer of 1967, racial tensions caused by economic and political discrimination against Black residents turned into riots in cities like Detroit and Newark. New Brunswick experienced social and civil disorder but without the violence seen in other cities thanks to Black pastoral leadership, the leadership of Black Community Associations,[10] and Mayor Patricia Sheehan.[11] One of those associations was the Middlesex County Economic Opportunities Corporation (MCEOC), an anti-poverty agency that pressured the mayor to improve race relations in the city. At that time, the Black community in New Brunswick was facing job discrimination, dilapidated housing, unequal educational programs, lack of recreational facilities, and mistreatment by the police.[12] Despite averting severe violence, the underlying causes of unrest were not eliminated.[13] As a result of the social unrest, some of the white population and businesses moved out of the city, while some Black residents also moved out in search of jobs and better housing.[14]

Revitalization projects subsequently started over the following years. Johnson and Johnson (J&J), an international medical supply manufacturer founded in New Brunswick in the late 1890s, engaged in city revitalization, while forcing their own terms as a condition for not moving its corporate headquarters out of the city. John Heldrich, born and raised in New Brunswick, was the J&J corporate executive commissioned to oversee the city’s redevelopment on behalf of J&J. One of their initiatives was to bolster employment for minority residents in New Brunswick.[15] The result was the Project Action initiative, whose goal was to ameliorate urban underemployment in the early 1970s.[16]

New Brunswick Tomorrow (NBT) started in 1975 as a development envisioning a response to the economic decay and high crime rates in the city during the 60s and 70s.[17] NBT was launched by the city in a “public-private partnership” with funding from J&J to develop more businesses, which concurrently displaced poor and minority communities from the city’s central business district.[18] In 1976, NBT created DevCo (New Brunswick Development Corporation), a tax-exempt corporation in charge of the physical implementation of New Brunswick Tomorrow’s revitalization plan.[19] In 1978, Johnson & Johnson committed to keeping its headquarters in New Brunswick, and commissioned world-renowned architect I.M. Pei to design their new international headquarters that was developed between 1979 and 1987. Under this design, the city went through three phases of redevelopment around George Street, Albany Street, and the Hiram Market area[20] which was a predominantly Latino neighborhood.[21] The first phase was from 1968 to 1982 and focused on infrastructure improvements like the Route 18 extension and bridge, improvement of traffic in the downtown, and the separation of the sanitary and storm sewer systems on George Street.[22] The second phase was from 1986 to 1991 and focused on the revitalization of George Street and Albany Street, as well as the three theaters of the Cultural Center (The State Theater, George Street Playhouse, and Crossroads Theatre).[23] Finally, the third phase, from 1994 to 2007, focused on government, education, housing, and health projects.[24] Additional redevelopment phases went from 2012-2013 and worked around the train station, and work on Rutgers University’s College Avenue Campus to increase housing for university students and others has continued since its inception in 2014.[25]

This long-term revitalization and redevelopment project implied demolishing public housing that was mainly populated by New Brunswick’s Black community. One of these housing projects was Memorial Homes, consisting of four high-rise buildings built in the 1950s close to the central business district. New Brunswick Housing Authority's lack of maintenance contributed to its decline, and the last tenants were removed in 2001.[26]

In fact, Black and Latino communities in New Brunswick were against New Brunswick Tomorrow’s revitalization project. In an article in The New York Times from 1979 called “Poor Opposing New Brunswick Project,” Joseph F. Sullivan writes about the Black and Latino populations' opposition to this project. Their primary concern was that this revitalization implied bulldozing their neighborhoods without providing new housing in order to provide better infrastructure for a white middle-class.[27] Black and Latino populations felt that they were left behind in this revitalization project. They also denounced displacement of minorities after landlords preferred renting their houses to Rutgers students instead of Black or Latino families. According to New Brunswick Tomorrow's website, their organization’s vision shifted in the 1980s from a brick-and-mortar focus to community-based social and economic issues.[28]

Today, the Black community in New Brunswick still faces problems such as higher unemployment and incarceration rates compared to other Americans.[29] According to Data USA, in 2019 26% of the Black population in New Brunswick live below the poverty line, where the total Black population in the city is only 15.3%.[30] The Black community is also vulnerable to police bias and brutality. In 2011, Barry Deloatch was killed when a police officer on patrol shot him twice while he was unarmed, which generated protests at City Hall and around the city.[31] The Civic League of Greater New Brunswick is one community-based organization that actively supports and advocates for African American families. Their programs in the areas of education, health care, employment, and housing empower families within their communities.[32]

[1] The 2020 Census projected the total population of New Brunswick at 55,266 people. United States Census Bureau. “QuickFacts. New Brunswick city, New Jersey”. Accessed July 18, 2022. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/newbrunswickcitynewjersey

[2] At that time, the total population of New Brunswick was at 41,711 people. Listokin, David, et al. New Brunswick, New Jersey: The Decline and Revitalization of Urban America. Rutgers University Press, 2016. Accessed July 11, 2022. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1bw1hjs.

[3] Listokin, David, et al. New Brunswick, New Jersey: The Decline and Revitalization of Urban America. Rutgers University Press, 2016, p. 54. Accessed July 11, 2022. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1bw1hjs.

[4] United States Census Bureau. “QuickFacts. New Brunswick city, New Jersey”. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/newbrunswickcitynewjersey

[5] Listokin, David, et al. New Brunswick, New Jersey: The Decline and Revitalization of Urban America. Rutgers University Press, 2016, p. 55. Accessed July 11, 2022. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1bw1hjs.

[6] Regional Plan Association. “Pushed Out Housing Displacement in an Unaffordable Region”. March 2017. https://rpa.org/work/reports/pushed-out

[7] Rasmussen, Chris. “‘A Web of Tension’: The 1967 Protests in New Brunswick, New Jersey.” Journal of Urban History, vol. 40, no. 1, Jan. 2014, p. 139, doi:10.1177/0096144213491695.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Rasmussen, Chris. “‘A Web of Tension’: The 1967 Protests in New Brunswick, New Jersey.” Journal of Urban History, vol. 40, no. 1, Jan. 2014, p. 138, doi:10.1177/0096144213491695.

[11] coLAB Arts. “Pat Sheehan”. October 21, 2022. https://colab-arts.org/oral-history-archive/2022/2/28/pat-sheehan

[12] Rasmussen, Chris. “‘A Web of Tension’: The 1967 Protests in New Brunswick, New Jersey.” Journal of Urban History, vol. 40, no. 1, Jan. 2014, p. 139, doi:10.1177/0096144213491695.

[13] Rasmussen, Chris. “‘A Web of Tension’: The 1967 Protests in New Brunswick, New Jersey.” Journal of Urban History, vol. 40, no. 1, Jan. 2014, p. 148, doi:10.1177/0096144213491695.

[14] Rasmussen, Chris. “‘A Web of Tension’: The 1967 Protests in New Brunswick, New Jersey.” Journal of Urban History, vol. 40, no. 1, Jan. 2014, p. 150, doi:10.1177/0096144213491695.

[15] Listokin, David, et al. New Brunswick, New Jersey: The Decline and Revitalization of Urban America. Rutgers University Press, 2016, pp. 91. Accessed July 11, 2022. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1bw1hjs.

[16] Ibid.

[17] Listokin, David, et al. New Brunswick, New Jersey: The Decline and Revitalization of Urban America. Rutgers University Press, 2016, pp. 87. Accessed July 11, 2022. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1bw1hjs.

[18] Rasmussen, Chris. “‘A Web of Tension’: The 1967 Protests in New Brunswick, New Jersey.” Journal of Urban History, vol. 40, no. 1, Jan. 2014, p. 150, doi:10.1177/0096144213491695.

[19] Ibid.

[20] Listokin, David, et al. New Brunswick, New Jersey: The Decline and Revitalization of Urban America. Rutgers University Press, 2016, pp. 116. Accessed July 11, 2022. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1bw1hjs.

[21] The New York Times. Sullivan, Joseph. “Poor Opposing New Brunswick Project”. August 13, 1979. https://www.nytimes.com/1979/08/13/archives/poor-opposing-new-brunswick-project-suburbanizing-the-city.html

[22] Listokin, David, et al. New Brunswick, New Jersey: The Decline and Revitalization of Urban America. Rutgers University Press, 2016, pp. 115. Accessed July 11, 2022. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1bw1hjs.

[23] Listokin, David, et al. New Brunswick, New Jersey: The Decline and Revitalization of Urban America. Rutgers University Press, 2016, pp. 116. Accessed July 11, 2022. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1bw1hjs.

[24] Ibid.

[25] Listokin, David, et al. New Brunswick, New Jersey: The Decline and Revitalization of Urban America. Rutgers University Press, 2016, pp. 117. Accessed July 11, 2022. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1bw1hjs.

[26] Listokin, David, et al. New Brunswick, New Jersey: The Decline and Revitalization of Urban America. Rutgers University Press, 2016, pp. 124. Accessed July 11, 2022. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1bw1hjs.

[27] The New York Times. Sullivan, Joseph. “Poor Opposing New Brunswick Project”. August 13, 1979. https://www.nytimes.com/1979/08/13/archives/poor-opposing-new-brunswick-project-suburbanizing-the-city.html

[28] New Brunswick Tomorrow. “About New Brunswick Tomorrow”. Accessed July 18, 2022.

https://www.nbtomorrow.org/about

[29] New Brunswick Free Public Library. “Black History in New Brunswick”. Accessed July 18, 2022.

https://nbfplhistory.wixsite.com/blackhistory/black-issues-today

[30] Data USA. “New Brunswick, NJ”. Accessed July 18, 2022. https://datausa.io/profile/geo/new-brunswick-nj/

[31] New Brunswick Free Public Library. “Black History in New Brunswick”. Accessed July 18, 2022. https://nbfplhistory.wixsite.com/blackhistory/black-issues-today

[32] Civic League of Greater New Brunswick, https://www.civicleaguenb.com/.