JERSEY CITY UPRISING

Lafayette Gardens, a public housing complex, was the site of an important moment in Jersey City's civil rights history. On August 2, 1964, the arrest of a 26-year-old Black woman named Dolores Shannon became the catalyst for three nights of what is now known as the Jersey City Uprising.

The conflict began when police intervened in a dispute involving Shannon and another resident. Witnesses reported that the officers used excessive force and verbal abuse, which escalated into a physical confrontation. As Shannon was forcibly arrested, a crowd of hundreds gathered, fueled by years of documented police brutality and systemic neglect.

The protests and clashes with police lasted for three days. Over 800 police officers were deployed; dozens of residents were injured, and more than 100 were arrested.

The events, similar to recent riots in Harlem, Brooklyn, and Rochester, New York, pushed the city to confront deep-seated racial inequities and ultimately led to the creation of the city's first community relations board.

The housing complex was demolished to build 64 new mixed-income stacked townhouses and flats, Lafayette Village.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT NOW

Decades may have passed since the 1964 uprising, but its echoes still reverberate through Jersey City’s social landscape.

The story of Dolores Shannon remains a poignant mirror to contemporary concerns regarding the treatment of marginalized people within the justice system. The events of 1964 were not an isolated outburst; they were the release of decades of bottled-up frustration with systemic injustice. When we see more recent protests—such as those following the police killing of Andrew Washington during a mental health crisis—it becomes clear that these frustrations do not exist in a vacuum. They are part of a continuous history of struggle.

Today, the Lafayette neighborhood stands as one of the fastest-gentrifying areas in the city. As new luxury developments rise, they often obscure the history of the very streets they occupy. The 1964 uprising was, at its core, a demand for dignity within one’s own community—a demand that feels increasingly urgent as those same neighborhoods are physically and culturally transformed by outside capital.

https://blackpast.org/african-american-history/1964-jersey-city-uprising-1964/

From NJ State Library by Beards, Daniel E.

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