What if the story of America was hiding just across the river from New York? 🔔 Subscribe and join us on this journey around the world → https://bit.ly/WorldView-Documentary 00:00 – Introduction: A City in the Shadow of Manhattan 07:50 – Art as Resistance: Spirit House and Black Aesthetics 15:59 – Urban Renewal: Displacement in the Name of Progress 23:35 – The 1967 Rebellion: Rage, Police Brutality & Aftermath 31:40 – Changing Neighborhoods: Weequahic and Route 78 42:04 – Discrimination at Work: The Roth Family's Experience 50:03 – Mothers, Memory & Honesty 57:08 – Legacy of Roth and Baraka Newark, a river across NY, has always been in the shadow of the city of light. This is the history of a the city of Newark revealed through the story of two families, those of Black writer Amiri Baraka and famous Jewish writer Philip Roth as they struggle with the meaning of American identity. This documentary explores the forgotten history of the city. Newark lies just across the river from New York, in the shadow of Manhattan, its particularity mostly lost to forgetting. Set against the rise and fall, the film recounts the histories of two Newark writers’ families, the Afro-American Amiri Baraka, the other Jewish, that of Philip Roth. Their generational destinies inescapably intertwined with Newark’s prosperity and decline. WATCH NEXT: From Paris to New York: The Birth of Lady Liberty https://youtu.be/886gxnEFE8A Inside Saddam’s Fall: Untold Iraqi Voices of the U.S. Invasion https://youtu.be/_x3c4LGNBK8 Supermax & the Prison Empire of Colorado https://youtu.be/z1GjgoJHzcw 444 Days of Terror: The Story of U.S. Diplomats Held Captive in Iran https://youtu.be/8yoFduWGSI8 How China and the US Hijacked Global Health? https://youtu.be/rfMpJYC0pmw Can You Buy a Judge? Inside America's Corrupt Court Elections https://youtu.be/X7_6YWNJzT4 THE BARDS OF NEWARK Directed by FAIGENBAUM Stephen All Rights Reserved #NewarkDocumentary #AmiriBaraka #PhilipRoth #ForgottenCities #BlackHistory #JewishHistory #AmericanIdentity #UrbanHistory #HistoricalDocumentary #WorldViewDocs #thebardsofnewark
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There’s definitely some nice pockets in Newark, that are true communities. I love that Black folks give you a “good morning” when they see you, this doesn’t really happen in California or even in many nyc communities.
The city where I was born, raised, and educated. I lived in every ward except for the East Ward. I used to work for the Newark school system, but when they had their massive layoff in 1996, I wasn't able to find another job in the city and when I found a new job, not having a car at the time, I ended up moving away to another county. Sometimes I go to the main library on Washington Street, or to see a show at NJ PAC.
Newark is a beautiful complex culturally rich place. It just needs love and restoration.
It's 2026, I live in Newark. I moved here in 2013. I fell in love rigth away. When i moved here - the city was collapsed. I was called the white devil, spat on, I felt like I was in a different time. But I fell in love. This city is so UNIQUE. Its an incredible city.
Been here since 1971.My parents and grandparents been here since the early 1950s.. I will always be a product of my enviroment and I will always love my city excellent documentary ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Forever love brick city ! Beth Israel born , southward raised , arts high school graduate . Love nork! Lol
Newark can be beautiful with a little cleanup and the roads repaved which not one mayor in the last 25 years has done…
Gipson got in office and like most black politicians today didn't do a dam thing, as far as Baraka, I leave that to the ppl of Newark 😮
This is not the whole truth , first of all the blacks were already there, between 1880-1920 12 million emigrants from the ghettos and slums of Europe , were specifically allowed to migrae to the Americas , because blacks were and are the largest ethnic group ,those Europeans were not considered white until they landed on Ellis island, and eventually assimilated into white society with the sole purpose of getting their numbers up , the biggest lie ever told is black folks in America are the minority, and that all black Americans came from Africa . If you only count the descendants of white anglo Saxon emigrants, it would start to make sense, even today Latin Americans, North Africans, Eastern European,and even Hindus or East Indians are classified as white on Americas census data.
This is a very interesting documentary. I was born and raised in Newark, grew up there in the 80s and 90s. When I had my children, I left the city and or state to raise them elsewhere. There was so much that I took for granted that I just assumed every state had, which was a melting pot of diverse culture and African Americans truly understood who they were. Unfortunately they did not. I saw early how suburban neighborhoods did not teach black history and did not even want to acknowledge that it existed. So I had to teach my kids. I missed how diverse the food was and all the different cultures from Italian, Jewish, Portuguese, Latino, African Americans, Caribbean Americans, and even native Africans getting along and simply loving our city. In fact, I was amazed when I saw black celebrities stating that before going to African, they only associated Africans with the old Feed the Hungry commercials. I couldn't believe such ignorant statements because we were taugh this at an early age that ir was so much more. Also, we had a chance to interact in real time. I didn't appreciate it when I left but I am so grateful to have lived there in that era. I pray that we get our children back on track so that they too can understand self love, self respect, and accept individuality as a gift not a curse. So no I wouldn't call Newark lost or forgotten, because I never lost my way back and I never forgot what it taught me.
Your dad was a real one. The apple fell waay far from the tree on this one.
Just one point: not a “small American city.” It’s NJ’s largest city and one of the biggest in the northeast…
1967
17:45 This was the rail yard located in the Springfield-Belmont Neighborhood. It was the Pennsylvania Railroad Newark-Belmont branch. The boy is running toward the intersection of rose and Jeliffe. The little bricks housing is just out of view to the left. The tracks get a sharp reverse s-curve right in the center of the intersection. From there the tracks will cross Avon Ave, Madison, Clinton Ave, and eventually turn East and run down the north side of East Runyon Street. The right of way is still there along East Runyon as well as two major factories that used to receive freight cars.
17:45 this rail yard today is the location of the Harold Wilson School. The kid is running towards Rose Street. 18th Avenue would be behind you. The tracks crossed 18th Avenue into a massive GE Factory. Today the GE Factory is Nat Turner Park
I moved to Newark in 2019. I lived in Lincoln Park West Ruyne South 17 st by West Side Park I lived over Ideals on Frelinghuysen across the st from the DMV and the last 3 years I been living on top of Frelinghuysen in the Projects. I love it out here it's a beautiful historic city and in every neighborhood I moved to all the neighbors have been nice and welcoming. I never had any problems but also I mind my business and keep it pushing and I treat everyone the way I wanted to be treated back . Newark can be dangerous but once again I am not from Newark so I don't belong to any set or any block so I don't have any opps and because I mind my business and don't start shit no one fucks with you.
the clear people, the clear people, the clear people....smh.
More black propaganda, I'm from near by . Like all major cities Newark had its hay day. And then went into decay. The New Jersey citizens pumped BILLIONS as did the federal government in order to save it. Mismanagement and out right theft has left its mark. The city center has cleaned up but NO ONE wants to go there. Newark is the reason that the Essex county taxes are the highest in the state. Yep, It sucks to be me . 🇺🇲
This is a powerful documentary I’ve learned more about Newark than I ever knew before. I wasn’t familiar with the Baraka family, but now I clearly see where Ras Baraka gets his drive and purpose from.
Newark really went through some sh!t in the past and still has a way to go but I still love my brick city. 💪🏽