This thesis explores the theories and praxis of struggles for community-control of public housing in the era of Black Power through a case study of the Stella Wright Rent Strike. From 1970 to 1974, tenants of the Stella Windsor Wright Homes in Newark, NJ, waged the longest rent strike in the history of public housing in the United States. Following in the wake of the 1967 Rebellion and the election of Kenneth A. Gibson as the city’s first Black mayor in 1970, Newark’s poor and working-class Black tenants blended grassroots militancy with political savvy as they successfully fought for community control of public housing from the high-rises to city hall to Washington, D.C. Building upon social networks and indigenous leadership within the project, tenant organizers translated effective organizing into a successful model of tenant management.
","abstract_html":"<p>This thesis explores the theories and praxis of struggles for community-control of public housing in the era of Black Power through a case study of the Stella Wright Rent Strike. From 1970 to 1974, tenants of the Stella Windsor Wright Homes in Newark, NJ, waged the longest rent strike in the history of public housing in the United States. Following in the wake of the 1967 Rebellion and the election of Kenneth A. Gibson as the city’s first Black mayor in 1970, Newark’s poor and working-class Black tenants blended grassroots militancy with political savvy as they successfully fought for community control of public housing from the high-rises to city hall to Washington, D.C. Building upon social networks and indigenous leadership within the project, tenant organizers translated effective organizing into a successful model of tenant management.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["McCaskill, Ari Ahmad"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Open Access Thesis","degree_discipline":"African American Studies","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Peter Blackmer, Ph.D.","Imelda Hunt, Ph.D.","Matthew Cook, Ph.D."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2022,"date_issued":"2022-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2022-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:17:47Z","subjects":["Federal Housing Policy","Public Housing","Public Housing Policy","Tenant Activism","Tenant Management","Public Policy"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.emich.edu/theses/1125","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Peter Blackmer, Ph.D.","Imelda Hunt, Ph.D.","Matthew Cook, Ph.D."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["McCaskill, Ari Ahmad"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2022-06-13T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["African American Studies"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Federal Housing Policy","Public Housing","Public Housing Policy","Tenant Activism","Tenant Management","Public Policy"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/1125"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This thesis explores the theories and praxis of struggles for community-control of public housing in the era of Black Power through a case study of the Stella Wright Rent Strike. From 1970 to 1974, tenants of the Stella Windsor Wright Homes in Newark, NJ, waged the longest rent strike in the history of public housing in the United States. Following in the wake of the 1967 Rebellion and the election of Kenneth A. Gibson as the city’s first Black mayor in 1970, Newark’s poor and working-class Black tenants blended grassroots militancy with political savvy as they successfully fought for community control of public housing from the high-rises to city hall to Washington, D.C. Building upon social networks and indigenous leadership within the project, tenant organizers translated effective organizing into a successful model of tenant management.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["African American women and tenant management of public housing: A case study of Stella Wright"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Peter Blackmer, Ph.D.","Imelda Hunt, Ph.D.","Matthew Cook, Ph.D."],"dc:creator":["McCaskill, Ari Ahmad"],"dc:date.available":["2022-06-13T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This thesis explores the theories and praxis of struggles for community-control of public housing in the era of Black Power through a case study of the Stella Wright Rent Strike. From 1970 to 1974, tenants of the Stella Windsor Wright Homes in Newark, NJ, waged the longest rent strike in the history of public housing in the United States. Following in the wake of the 1967 Rebellion and the election of Kenneth A. Gibson as the city’s first Black mayor in 1970, Newark’s poor and working-class Black tenants blended grassroots militancy with political savvy as they successfully fought for community control of public housing from the high-rises to city hall to Washington, D.C. Building upon social networks and indigenous leadership within the project, tenant organizers translated effective organizing into a successful model of tenant management.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/1125"],"dc:subject":["Federal Housing Policy","Public Housing","Public Housing Policy","Tenant Activism","Tenant Management","Public Policy"],"dc:title":["African American women and tenant management of public housing: A case study of Stella Wright"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["African American Studies"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:17:47Z"}