A Lecture and Presentation    on the History    of Newark Chinatown    as researched by Yoland Skeete        Sumei Multidisciplinary Arts Center    19 Liberty Street (at Lafayette Street),    Newark, NJ 07102    973 643.7883 | www.sumei.org

History In 1870, James Hervey brought 68 Chinese to Belleville, NJ to work in his steam laundry along the banks of the Passaic River. They were treated with hostility by the local residents. A protest rally against their presence was held on the banks of the Passaic and reported in the newspapers of the day. A wall was built around the steam laundry grounds to keep the public from hostile behavior towards the Chinese. Between 1875 and 1885, many Chinese left the laundry at Belleville to establish what became known as the Newark Chinatown. By 1922, there were 3,000 Chinese living in Newark Chinatown, located behind Newark City Hall. Newark Chinatown was a thriving center of Chinese culture in New Jersey. How is it possible that an entire community of people could be eradicated from the face of a city? No books on the history of Newark have given any consideration to the history of the Chinese people who made up a large part of the ethnic groups that lived here from 1870’s to the 1960’s. Newark historians even in their writings today seem to have forgotten this major historical event. The city of Newark today does not acknowledge the existence of a Newark Chinatown or that a Chinese community ever existed in Newark.