Uprisings: the Impact of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Assassination and the Case of Trenton, New Jersey

FAIN: FEL-273785-21

Alison Ellen Isenberg
Princeton University (Princeton, NJ 08540-5228)

Research and writing leading to a book on unrest in Trenton, New Jersey, in the aftermath of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Uprisings takes the April 1968 unrest in Trenton, New Jersey as its starting point, offering a window into the volatile weeks after Rev. King’s assassination. Around the nation more than 40 people died in what was called the Holy Week uprisings, or King riots. Police said many victims were looters or arsonists. Trenton’s “riots” became a simplified explanation for the city’s woes. Yet there has been little research into the nation’s “scenes of racial violence,” as named by the Philadelphia Inquirer. Uprisings centers on Harlan Bruce Joseph, a black college sophomore at Lincoln University who was fatally shot by a white officer during minor unrest in Trenton. Joseph’s life reveals a committed young man interested in the ministry who worked to make a better Trenton. The circumstances of his death correct longstanding misperceptions of the “riots” and their meaning. The shooting entwined a young man and his city in tragedy. This book disentangles the two, to tell a story of life and hope.