Newark in the 1970s was synonymous with urban despair. During the “Long Hot Summer of 1967,” Newark became the site of one of the race riots sweeping across some 159 American cities. The four-day uprising, sparked by police brutality against Black cab driver John William Smith, resulted in 26 dead, 15,000 wounded, 1,600 arrested, and $10 million in property damages.
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Soon thereafter, the Nixon White House instituted a policy of “benign neglect,” denying basic government services to Black and Latinx communities as a means to further systemically oppress the poverty-stricken underclass. By the mid-1970s, Newark had fallen on hard times. The January 1975 issue of Harper’s Magazine ranked the 50 largest American cities in 24 categories, from parking space to crime. The article concluded, “The city of Newark stands without serious challenge as the worst city of all… Newark is a city that desperately needs help.”
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Despite it all, Newark maintained a style and identity all its own, perfectly exemplified by Arts High School, a public school dedicated to nurturing the talents of inner city youth. Established in 1931, Arts High School was the first visual and performing arts high school in the United States, and counts Black Panther’s Michael B. Jordan, Pose’s MJ Rodriguez, jazz icons Sarah Vaughan and Wayne Shorter, and Broadway stars Melba Moore and Savion Glover among its alumni.
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At the outset of her career, Constance Hansen, now one half of the husband and wife photography team Guzman, arrived at Arts High School after graduating from Pratt Institute with an art education degree in art therapy in 1971. Hansen remembers, “Newark was still fresh from the riots. It was pretty rough. Everything was falling apart. The city was underfunded, as was the school. There was a recession, money was tight, but I never thought about any of that.”
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