Plainfield Celebrates Linward Cathcart, Harvey Judkins and the Anniversary of the Plainfield Avenue Pool

PLAINFIELD, NJ — In the late 1960s, Harvey Judkins was one of two Black councilmen on Plainfield's 11-member governing body. Plainfield was a Republican city at the time, and its business and political leaders were overwhelmingly members of the GOP, including Harvey Judkins, a successful businessman who owned a funeral home.

During a tense era of political upheaval, including the 1967 uprising, Judkins and Everett Lattimore—who later became Plainfield's first Black mayor—were often tasked with articulating the dissent of the Black residents to their white, Republican colleagues.

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Through the 60s, Black resentment in Plainfield grew due to income, employment, education, housing, and other inequalities, particularly in the West End, where the 1967 uprising took place. By the mid 1960s, 56% of residences in what would become the riot area were considered structurally unsound as the number of absentee landlords grew, when the white population diminished between 1950 and 1970.

Meanwhile, the Black population grew from 13.5% in 1950, to 21.6% in 1960, and to nearly 40% by the 1967 uprising. Unequal recreational opportunities were also an issue for Plainfield's Black community. According to a 2007 report entitled Plainfield Burning: Black Rebellion in the Suburban North:

Black West Enders also complained about the lack of recreational facilities available in their area. While the Plainfield city government gave 53 cents of every tax dollar to schools, recreation budgets only received 1.5 cents per tax dollar. Although many Plainfield neighborhoods had excellent recreation centers and swimming pools, no such amenities existed in the West End; there was no ball field, no organized athletics for most age groups and, most significantly, no neighborhood swimming pool. Blacks were unwelcome in recreation centers in white neighborhoods: Plainfield’s YMCA had such a bad reputation among blacks that it was known throughout the West End as “the White MCA.” Demands for a pool almost incited a riot in the summer of 1966 before the town government instituted a busing program that, for a 25 cent fare, would take West End residents to the public pool in nearby Rahway on weekdays during the summer months. Though the local government saw the busing as a viable alternative to building a public swimming pool in the West End, the practice infuriated West Enders.

One of those men was Augurs Linward Cathcart, then in his late 20s, head of the Youth for Action Movement and a staunch critic of city government. Cathcart complained that Mayor Hetfield had only visited the West End twice during his term in office despite the growing discontent in the area.

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At the time of the uprising, Councilman Lattimore, who passed away in 1991, credited Cathcart as the only man to successfully make demands on behalf of Black residents of the West End. Recreational equality, namely a pool, was an ever-present demand.

Rising from the masses and through leaders like Cathcart, the demands made their way to City Councilmen Judkins and Lattimore, and one year after the uprising, the Plainfield Avenue Pool was opened.

On Friday, the City of Plainfield honored both Linward Cathcart and Harvey Judkins only feet away from what is now known as the Hannah Atkins Pool. The occasion was the 56th anniversary of the pool's opening on July 20, 1968. In his speech, Mr Judkins credited its namesake.

"This place wouldn't be the same if it wasn't for a lady named Hannah Atkins," said Harvey Judkins of the late activist. "She started this program on her own, as a one-woman [force]. Without her starting this, this pool wouldn't be here. You must remember, and don't you ever forget, Hannah Atkins—a woman who stood strong in this town."

Judkins recalled a segregated time when Black residents of Plainfield couldn't even shop like the white majority. "You couldn't try the shoe on. If it didn't fit, it didn't fit. You bought it without putting it on," said the centenarian, who talked about the segregated Black sections of Plainfield's movie theaters.

"Don't you think Plainfield was the 'Queen City,'" said Judkins of the city's moniker. "It wasn't. It was not a 'Queen City.' It was a hell city back in the day." He also encouraged increased civic engagement in today's Black community of Plainfield.

"I will say this to you all. I think that you all should be more involved in this thing. A lot of [you] are not doing your job and being active in civic matters. You're sitting on your butts, and you're not doing what you should be doing," said Judkins, who joked that his wife told him to stay away from politics. "You're going to have to be more active in what happens in this town. Watch what's going on."

Judkins gave a lot of the credit for the pool to Mr Cathcart, who sat right beside him at Friday's ceremony.

"I'll never stop telling you that you have not given my friend Linward Abdul Karriem [Cathcart] the accolades that he deserves," said Judkins. "He is well deserved, more than I'll ever deserve. Truthfully, that's my brother, and we will be that way for the rest of our lives."

Cathcart reflected on his days building young leaders in Plainfield. "What we did here in Plainfield, we built men, and we built women. Respectful men, and respectful women, who would take tea for the feeble."

Cathcart reflected fondly on the Youth Action Movement that he lead, and one occasion where they had over 100 young men wearing Y.A.M. hats at an event at Cedar Brook Park. He also encouraged the next generation to advocate going forward.

"We're going to have to fight to get respect in the coming future," said Cathcart.

One of Cathcart's mentees for over 50 years, Norman Deen Muhammad, grew up right across the street at Joanne Hollis Gardens, once known as West End Gardens.

"Growing up, I was in the midst of asphalt and concrete, but we had an oasis," recalled Muhammad, who heads the Plainfield Anti-Violence Coalition. "It was called the pool, with its bright blue sparkling water that was here to welcome the kids in the neighborhood."

Muhammad remembered the cold shower that the kids had to get into before entering the pool's gates. It was worth the discomfort.

"We had what nobody else had at that time," said Muhammad. "We had a state-of-the-art pool. Seidler Field, you had a temporary pool at that time. Rushmore, you had a temporary pool at that time. But at Plainfield Avenue, we had a state-of-the-art pool."

Muhammad thanked both Judkins and Cathcart, crediting the latter with his own activism. "Anything and everything that I am able to contribute to the community is because I learned it from Mr Linward Cathcart."

Plainfield City Councilor Terri Briggs-Jones was raised on Plainfield's West End and lives right around the corner from the pool.

"We had the privilege of coming here to go swimming," said Briggs-Jones of her youth. "I thank God for people who paved the way, opened up a way for us to come here and go swimming. My mom was a single mom after my dad got sick, and I thank God we had somewhere to come and cool off."

Harvey Judkins wife, Michelle Bryant-Judkins, grew up right across Plainfield Avenue from the pool.

"We used to cross that street and jump in that pool and jump off the diving board and swim in that pool as well. So this is close to my heart, and it means a lot."

Bryant-Judkins encouraged the city's current leaders to name a street in the vicinity after Harvey Judkins, Linward Cathcart, and Ernest Wiggins. Ernest Wiggins, now known as Ernest Shakir, was a business owner and community advocate for over 50 years, receiving awards and honors from the Union County NAACP, the UCC Justice and Peace Action Network, the Union County ACIC Stop the Violence Campaign, and many more groups.

Plainfield Superintendent of Parks and Recreation Veronica Taylor, who organized the event, presented both Mr Cathcart and Mr Judkins with plaques and their wives with flowers and words of appreciation. Her department printed out enlarged copies of news articles about the pool from the 1960s.

"It has been one of my goals to make sure we show the history of the parks, so we never forget these hard-earned victories that our elders gave to us, so that we may pass it on to generations that come after," said Taylor, who also grew on the city's West End. "I take this very seriously, and I thank all of you here for your support."

Veronica Taylor encouraged Plainfield residents to send in photos of themselves at Plainfield's pools over the years, as the Plainfield Library will host a photo exhibition in 2025 to coincide with the opening of the new pool at the Rushmore Recreational Complex. The Library is currently hosting a similar exhibition of Fourth of July parade photos that kicked off earlier this month.

"I stand here this evening in a very privileged position, as mayor of this great city of Plainfield," said Mayor Adrian Mapp. "None of this would have been possible had it not been for those who came before us."

"We know that Harvey Judkins was a member of the governing body, and it's people like him who took the chance, challenged the establishment, and were able to tear down walls, and tear down barriers, so that people like myself and others could walk through the door," he continued.

"And then there's Linward Cathcart," said the third-term mayor. "He has been a soldier in the vineyards of Plainfield for decades, and whose work and sacrifices made it possible for so many young people to step forward and to step into the process. It is not by accident that these men did what they did and were able to accomplish over many years."

The ceremony also featured remarks from Arthur Lee Warren, Union County Commissioner Rebecca Williams, New Jersey Assemblywoman Linda Carter, and Plainfield City Council Vice President Robert Graham.

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