{"id":20656,"date":"2021-08-10T16:17:31","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T20:17:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/?p=20656"},"modified":"2023-01-18T11:59:48","modified_gmt":"2023-01-18T16:59:48","slug":"paradoxical-paradise-shares-asbury-parks-african-american-history-through-multimedia-archival-documents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/2021\/08\/10\/paradoxical-paradise-shares-asbury-parks-african-american-history-through-multimedia-archival-documents\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Paradoxical Paradise\u2019 Shares Asbury Park\u2019s African American History through Multimedia, Archival Documents"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Photo<\/p>\n

To a tourist visiting the Asbury Park beachfront, it really could seem like a paradise. The boutique hotels and luxury high-rises blended among century-old Beaux Arts buildings and legendary music halls. The energy of diverse crowds splashing in the waves and mingling along the restaurant-lined boardwalk.<\/p>\n

And therein lies the paradox. With the passing of each day and ribbon-cutting for every redevelopment project, Asbury Park\u2019s history with racial discrimination and civil unrest fades further from collective memory and becomes harder to believe for the unacquainted.<\/p>\n

A team of Monmouth University researchers is working to preserve that history through the \u201cParadoxical Paradise\u201d project, led by Associate Professor of African American History Hettie V. Williams of the Department of History and Anthropology. The group has assembled a growing online library of archival documents and photos, newly compiled GIS maps, oral histories, podcasts and other multimedia, all of which are publicly accessible at paradoxicalparadise.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Photo
Photo by Hettie V. Williams<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Williams said New Jersey is \u201cthe Georgia of the North\u201d in terms of the depth of its history with civil rights issues and observed that Asbury Park offers a unique case study within the state due to past segregation at its beaches and tourist businesses. Although some attention has been given to racial issues through the lens of Asbury Park\u2019s music culture, Williams said little research has sought a broader understanding of the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hasn\u2019t been studied by a lot of scholars,\u201d Williams said. \u201cThe riots haven\u2019t even been studied a great deal, and they were one of the largest in the state, if not the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The website contains several news articles and photos from the time of the city\u2019s 1970 riots, but some of the most unique insights come from the personal records of Joseph F. Mattice, the mayor of that era. With the support of a UCI grant<\/a>, Williams was able to access archival documents, letters, photos and other resources related to the riots from Mattice\u2019s collection and has been working with students to add excerpts online. The original materials are housed at Duke University.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey bought them on eBay for about $450,\u201d Williams recalled. \u201cWhen I learned that I said to myself, those archives should be at Monmouth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams encourages any community members with historic documents that can add to the project to contact the team<\/a>. Materials can be stored on campus or scanned and returned to their owners.<\/p>\n

COVID-19 Impacts<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The chief focus of the work funded by the UCI grant was the pandemic\u2019s impacts on the city\u2019s African American community. Elements of that work include:<\/p>\n