Joseph Mattice Papers, 1929-1985 at Duke University David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, 411 Chapel Drive, Durham, North Carolina
Joseph F. Mattice (January 17, 1902-July 13,1995) was the mayor of Asbury Park, New Jersey during the Asbury Park Riots that took place in July, 1970. Mattice, a native of Asbury Park, was a lawyer and member of the Asbury Park City Council before becoming mayor.
Summary
The Joseph F. Mattice Papers at Duke University contain correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, letters and ephemera ranging from 1929-1985. This information is organized into six sections: Asbury Park New Jersey Riots July 1970, Correspondence, Photographs, Ephemera, Newspaper Clippings, and Audiovisual materials. These materials were collected by Mattice during his time as a student at Georgetown University, lawyer, city council member, district court judge, and Monmouth County board of elections member. Mattice was mayor of Asbury Park during the July 1970 riots. The Asbury Park July 1970 riots brought national attention to the town, which is documented via the received correspondence, clippings, and ephemera in the collection.
Excerpts from the Asbury Park Riot files in the Joseph Mattice Papers at Duke:
These excerpts allows one to see the racist vitriol of some white community members as well as some commonly used phrases such as “outside agitators” and “Communists” hurled at members of the Black community during times of heightened racial tensions in U.S. history.
Correspondence from Mayor Joseph F. Mattice to Miss Winifred M. Haupt, 10 November 1970, Box 1, File 1b, Joseph F. Mattice Papers, 1929-1985, Duke University Library:
I have lived in this city my entire life, and the reason for the disorders was not lack of employment for the black youths, but it was caused by outside interests which has plagued many towns.
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Correspondence from Unknown Individual to Mayor Joseph F. Mattice, 1 August 1970, Box 1, File 1b, Joseph F. Mattice Papers, 1929-1985, Duke University Library:
THE COLORED PEOPLE ARE OUT TO DESTROY THE WHITE PEOPLE, AND STRANGLE THE CITY OF AS BURY PARK – AND YOU TAKE NO POSITIVE ACTION! OR IS THE CHIEF OF POLICE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS LACK OF ACTION?? THERE NEVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN A COLORED CHIEF OF POLICE – ALL THIS PANDERING TO NEGROES IS THE WRONG WAY TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM.
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Article Action of Asbury Park Officials Deplored by Drew R. Whitesell, Box 1, File 1b, Joseph F. Mattice Papers, 1929-1985, Duke University Library:
It is obvious that the demands are not the reason for the riots, they are just an excuse for rioting.
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Correspondence from Miss R.M. King to Mayor Joseph F. Mattice, 14 July 1970, Box 1, File 1b, Joseph F. Mattice Papers, 1929-1985, Duke University Library:
Do not give in to the demands of the Black Communists.
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Correspondence from James M.O. Brian to Mayor Joseph F. Mattice, 9 July 1970, Box 1, File 2, Joseph F. Mattice Papers, 1929-1985, Duke University Library:
Do you think paying off those responsible with jobs, housing, etc. will bring peace? You have to be kidding!
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Correspondence from Ed Sullivan to Mayor Joseph F. Mattice, Box 1, File 2, Joseph F.
Mattice Papers, 1929-1985, Duke University Library:
For Riots Negroes and White the best Medicine is to OPEN NEW CAMPS ALL OVER THE U.S.A. In which they can do hard labor for six months, and the proper punishment, Can be given to them.
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Correspondence from Ramos Guererro to Mayor Joseph F. Mattice, Box 1, File 2, Joseph F. Mattice Papers, 1929-1985, Duke University Library:
In the land of my parents, Mexico, they would have shot and killed at least one hundred of those punks.
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Correspondence from Mrs. E. Albert to Mayor Joseph F. Mattice, 8 July 1970, Box 1, File 2, Joseph F. Mattice Papers, 1929-1985, Duke University Library:
The history of this country makes it quite evident that you cannot talk, reason or negotiate with this type of people you’re dealing with.
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Article Guns Wound 43 in Asbury Riot, author unknown, Box 1, File 2, Joseph F. Mattice Papers, 1929-1985, Duke University Library:
“They fired into the air,” Koubis said. Asked why so many people were wounded, Kobis replied.
“I don’t know.”
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Correspondence from “Peaceful and Disgusted Citizen” to Mayor Joseph F. Mattice, 10 July 1970, Box 1, File 2, Joseph F. Mattice Papers, 1929-1985, Duke University Library:
IF THEY DO NOT VALUE OTHER LIVES AND LIVES OF THEIR OWN, THEY SHOULD BE SHOT IN ORDER TO MAKE A PEACEFUL COMMUNITY
Broadcast Asbury Park– Why it Happened, Box 1, Joseph F. Mattice Papers, 1929-1985, Duke University Library:
It was said there was an understanding that Blacks on the Beaches would hurt businesses —hotels and restaurants— on which the Blacks depended for jobs
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Article Asbury Park Gets Emergency Food Supply, by Vincent Lee and Roger Wetherington, 10 July 1970, Box 1 Joseph F. Mattice Papers, 1929-1985, Duke University Library:
At 8:40 pm, the mayor announced that there were no more issues to be resolved with the Black Community, and that he was going home for the night. The curfew was pushed back from 8:30 pm to 11 pm by the state police with the easing tension. Sixteen persons were arrested Wednesday for curfew violations and other offenses.
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Article Hard Nose and Hard Problem, by Joseph Modezelewski, 10 July 1970, Box 1, Joseph F. Mattice Papers, 1929-1985, Duke University Library:
Mattice is a hard nose, both physically and mentally. “Certainly I’m in good shape.” he says, “that’s the reason I back down from nobody”
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Article A Hard-Nosed Mayor Rules Out Appeasement in Asbury Park, by Joseph Modezelewski, Box 1,Joseph F. Mattice Papers, 1929-1985, Duke University Library:
“Of course, this thing can’t be quelled overnight, but I know if this happened with youths in the white community I would have known how to handle it.”
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Article Unfairness in Asbury Park, Author Unknown, Box 1, Joseph F. Mattice Papers, 1929-1985, Duke University Library:
Here were young people apparently ready and eager to work, the sons and daughters of blacks who, in past years, had been specifically brought to Asbury Park to work a wide range of jobs in the hotels and restaurants. Why, in the name of all that’s wise and right, should they not have been given the good, satisfying, lucrative jobs?
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Article Cahill Says Mayor Didn’t Seem Help, Author Unknown, Box 1, Joseph F. Mattice Papers, 1929-1985, Duke University Library:
Sen. Beadleston said Asbury Park’s application for the funds has been filed. Mr. Mattice said the city has asked for $40,000 to $50,000 to reimburse 75 percent of municipal expenses for police. As far as other requests for funds or programs are concerned, he said, “I assume the city is able to take care of itself.”
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Article Asbury Park Still Rundown 5 Years After Major Rioting, by Richard Phalon, 11 August 1975, Box 1 Joseph F. Mattice Papers, 1929-1985, Duke University Library:
“When you see 10 patrol cars responding to a bar fight on the West Side”… “I think you can say that’s an overreaction. People tend to want to push back something like that.”… “And I sometimes think the police want somebody to push back.”
This list was compiled by Monmouth University graduate student in history Justin Montana.
Urban Colored Population Commission Collection at the New Jersey State Library
Excerpts from Migration and Housing Among the Negro Population of Asbury Park, prepared by Joseph A. Clarke, 31 July 1945, Urban Colored Population Commission Reports (1938-1947), New Jersey State Library, 185 W. State Street, Trenton, NJ.
Summary:
The Urban Colored Population Commission was created in the State of New Jersey as a result of a law passed by the New Jersey state legislature in 1938 (P.L. 1938, c,393) that established this Commission as a temporary to explore the condition of African Americans in the state at the time. This included investigations into racial tensions, housing, health and equal access matters. In 1941, the stat legislature then passed another law (P.L. 1941, c.192) thereby removing the temporary designation. This Commission produced reports from its investigations until the year 1947 when it was absorbed into the Division on civil rights.
These excepts are compiled from the archival research of Dr. Williams from the Migration and Housing Among the Negro Population in Asbury Park files of the Urban Colored Population Commission Reports, and the notes below were organized by Justin Montana, graduate student in history in the Department of History and Anthropology at Monmouth University.
Page 9
“Housing Available to the Negro residents of Asbury Park is barely sufficient to accommodate the city’s Negro population, though the unfit dwelling units are occupied”
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Page 9
Aside from the program of the Asbury Park Housing Authority, we are unable to learn of any proposed construction planned for the immediate future which may provide dwelling units of standard quality for Non-White Occupancy
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Page 22
A liberal interspersion of White residents throughout nearly all the blocks in this section saves the area from being strictly labeled a “circumscribed, segregated Negro section”
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Page 22
White residents move from the area as their economic status and standard of living improve. On the contrary, every known attempt of Negro residents to rent or purchase homes elsewhere within this area has met frustration and failure
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Page 23
A serious health menace results from this incongruous housing pattern… Multiply such situations a few times and the infant mortality rate of 59.5 per 1000….the Negro population over the 31.4 per 1000 for the White population is easier understood.
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Page 26
The housing problem has been known to be the Key to many Urban problems. Unquestionably, distressing housing conditions have been established as a contributing, environmental factor upon many habits of citizens who live in slum areas, resulting in serious and, often, irreparable social maladjustments.
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Excerpts from Annual Report The Negro Citizen and New Jersey Democracy, prepared by New Jersey Commission on the Urban Colored Population, 1944, Urban Colored Population Commission Reports (1938-1947), New Jersey State Library, Trenton, NJ
9
Conditions existing and operating solely against the Negro citizen contradict the basic principles of religion and democracy. In permitting these principles to be nullified insofar as the Negro citizen, solely, is concerned, the State and other persons responsible for the correction of such situations are contributing to the breakdown of the foundations of Democracy.
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18
It is this Commission’s opinion that there is not one urban center in New Jersey where residential segregation is not practiced against its Negro population. The denser the concentration of the Negro population, according to our observations, the more pronounced the pattern of segregation can be observed in the larger cities.
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25
The members of this Commission believe the right of the citizen to purchase property and a home amid the most desirable residential conditions his income and standard of living permit should be a fundamental civil right, protected to the urban colored population of this State just as his right to purchase any other commodity or service offered for sale to the general public is protected by Chapter 10 of the Revised Statutes of New Jersey, referred to as the New Jersey Civil Rights Statutes.
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Excerpts from Discrimination in public places and the civil rights laws of New Jersey : fourth annual report, prepared by New Jersey Commission on the Urban Colored Population, 1944, Urban Colored Population Commission Reports (1938-1947), New Jersey State Library, Thomas Edison State University
14
Without question, the urgent necessity for unity and understanding among individuals and groups, with its recurrent, persistent and still unsettled obligation to gr ant the Negro citizen a secure status without discrimination in our democratic citizenship, remains the greatest social and civic problem in America today.
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26
It appears that the Negro population is responsible for not less than 20 per cent of the commitments to the state prison… The chief offenses for which Negroes are arrested
are disorderly conduct, drunkenness and assault
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30
Many Negro Serviceman, trained or stationed in New Jersey during the war period, are known to have no intentions of ever returning to their original homes in southern areas. Having fought for democracy, they seek in New Jersey opportunities for a fuller life without the handicaps openly and legally imposed by the South upon its Negro citizens
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This list was compiled by Justin Montana graduate student in history at Monmouth University.