South Ward: Omar
January 5, 2017SOUTH WARD,PORTRAITS
Image by Akintola Hanif South Ward: Omar In 2011, I started off selling $1 bottles of oil for women and men and I came up with this gimmick, something concerning hygiene, something universal. I thought of the slogan “smell good, look good” and started putting that in people’s ear. It worked. The first day, I sold 700 bottles. The South Ward has been my home base since 2015. It’s residential, it’s a...
South Ward: Isaiah
January 2, 2017SOUTH WARD,PORTRAITS
Photo by Akintola Hanif South Ward: Isaiah When I was growing up my dad lived on Foster Street at the mouth of Weequahic Park. It was a block that always had a lot of working class families, a building for seniors and other units with a big mix of people. The park was the place where everyone gathered but you didn’t see these stark differences between them anymore. There was all sorts of people that would use it coming...
South Ward: Antoinette
December 30, 2016SOUTH WARD,PORTRAITS
Photo by Akintola Hanif South Ward: Antoinette I went to Weequahic High School from 1966 to 1970. When I came here, it was 80 percent Jewish. When I left, there was maybe one or two white kids. That was how fast things changed. I think the school system was totally unprepared for us. We basically just had to figure out how to fit in. I don’t want to say we were invaders, but we didn’t belong and there wasn’t an...
South Ward: James
December 26, 2016SOUTH WARD,PORTRAITS
Image by Akintola Hanif South Ward: James I came to this country from Ghana in 1978 when I was 20. I was a nuclear medicine technician but I always wanted to open up a business for my people. This was a vacant building when I found it in 2004. I built everything here myself—the sheetrock, I fixed the roof, everything. The big reason people come here is because our food is fresh. We are not canned or packaged....
South Ward: Aliyah
December 21, 2016SOUTH WARD,PORTRAITS
Image by Akintola Hanif South Ward: Aliyah Growing up, everyone knew me and I didn’t have problems with people or my peers, period, because I was respected already. In school it was ok because I wasn’t the only gay girl. I played basketball from my elementary years and it used to be me and a ton of boys at the basketball yard. It was fun growing up back then— that’s when things were safer. We used to run around...
South Ward
CB Dream House Boutique, Bergen Avenue Weequahic Park golf course Nichem Co., carbon filter company, Frelinghuysen Avenue Weequahic Park...
Between the Lines
December 18, 2016CITY WIDE,WARDS
Between the Lines By Carrie Stetler and Akintola Hanif The stigma of Newark breeds its own...
Long Division
December 18, 2016CITY WIDE,HISTORY
1874 view of Newark, looking west Long Division By Carrie Stetler Newark’s ward system was created in 1836, after the city became one of the most important industrial centers in the nation. A population explosion transformed Newark, suddenly filled with immigrant laborers, and the creation of wards was viewed as a way to run it more effectively and impose law and order. “Do you wish to have an efficient watch...
Decisive Moment
December 16, 2016CITY WIDE,HISTORY
Jstarr's Room, 1986 From "The Wards of Newark 1982 to 1987" From Manuel Acevedo's photo album with images from "The Wards of Newark 1982 to 1987" ...
Coming Soon
July 21, 2016WEST WARD,EAST WARD,NORTH WARD,CENTRAL WARD
Image by Stefan Brown Coming Soon HYCIDE | The 5 Wards posts ward-by-ward stories incrementally. If you can’t find content for a particular ward, stay tuned and come back later.