(CIVIL RIGHTS RIOTS) Newark Riots

Sale 2239 - Lot 251

Price Realized: $ 3,600

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200

(CIVIL RIGHTS--RIOTS.) Newark Riots. Group of 12 gelatin silver prints, size varies, generally 8x10, some cropped smaller; stamps and notes on reverse. should be seen. Newark, 1967

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In the hot summer of 1967, Newark was a city ready to explode; it only needed a spark to light it up. That came when two white Newark policemen, John DeSimone and Vito Pontrelli, arrested a black cabdriver, John W. Smith, for improperly passing them. Smith was taken to the 4th Police Precinct, which was across the street from Hayes Homes, a large public housing project. Residents there saw an "incapacitated" Smith being dragged into the precinct, and the rumor soon spread that he had been killed while in police custody. Smith had been moved to a local hospital. This set off six days of looting, violence, and destruction - ultimately leaving 26 people dead, 725 people injured, and close to 1,500 arrested. Property damage exceeded $10 million.