On the Frontlines of Freedom

"In a classroom, on a football field and in a prison these were the battlegrounds for some of the most fervent clashes waged in defense of civil liberties in New Jersey since 1960. Awardwinning journalist Mary Jo Patterson provides an exclusive front-row seat to these skirmishes in the book, On the Frontlines of Freedom, a look at the first 50 years of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey. Patterson chronicles the rich and colorful history of the ACLU-NJ against the backdrop of changing social and political tides in New Jersey and America. The main fighters are the men and women who were brave enough to stand up for what was right, even in the face of unrelenting opposition. They were supported by the troops of the attorneys, staffers and civil libertarians who founded and worked at the ACLU-NJ since its founding in 1960. On the Frontlines of Freedom highlights the crucial work of the organization over the past 50 years and pays tribute to those who were bold enough to stand on the front lines.

I walked the smoldering streets of Newark with Hank di Suvero and his then-wife Ramona Ripston, introducing him to families of victims of police shootings during July 1967. Di Suvero, the new ACLU-NJ director, bravely sued the Newark Police Department when most of civil society was succumbing to irrational fear and law-and-order rhetoric. As history shows again and again, we need the ACLU to take unpopular stands when the Bill of Rights is threatened.

Tom Hayden, Newark Community Union Project, 1964-68; author, Rebellion in Newark, Random House, 1967

This wondrously fascinating and informed narrative history of the life and times of the ACLU of New Jersey is far more than a welcomed chronicle of a venerable organization that protects the rights of citizens and settlers. It contributes as well to a deeper understanding of the complicated, contested and oft troublesome quest for a meaningful democracy in contemporary New Jersey. Mary Jo Patterson has given us a riveting account of why the ACLU has engaged so many fronts and issues where justice and equal rights are worth fighting for and defending.

Clement Alexander Price, Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor of History, Rutgers University, Newark