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===Post–World War II=== Teaneck was selected in 1949 from more than 10,000 communities as America's model community, with the [[United States Army]] saying that the township was chosen because of its "fine municipal spirit and the high quality of its governmental service." Photographs were taken and a film produced about life in Teaneck, which were shown in [[Occupation of Japan|Occupied Japan]] and [[Austria]] as a part of the Army's education program to show democracy in action.<ref>[http://teaneck.org/virtualvillage/ModelCommunity/index.htm Teaneck Virtual Village: Teaneck as a Model Town], accessed May 9, 2006.</ref><ref>Seigel, Kalman . [https://www.nytimes.com/1949/09/22/archives/teaneck-on-film-as-model-town-army-completes-3day-effort-to-picture.html "Teaneck On Film As Model Town; Army Completes 3-Day Effort to Picture U. S. Community for Propaganda Abroad"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', September 22, 1949. Accessed January 13, 2024.</ref> In 1953, [[Fairleigh Dickinson University|Fairleigh Dickinson College]], then with 2,800 students based in [[Rutherford, New Jersey]], merged with the 400-student [[Bergen Junior College]], acquiring its campus in Teaneck, with the Bergen Junior College president saying that "the Teaneck property lends itself to considerable expansion".<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-fairleigh-and-bergen-junior-col/138616018/ "Fairleigh and Bergen Junior Colleges to Merge"], ''The News'', November 23, 1953. Accessed January 13, 2024, via [[Newspapers.com]]. "Fairleigh Dickinson College of Rutherford and Bergen Junior College of Teaneck, will merge under the name of Fairleigh Dickinson College....Merger of the two institutions will provide educational facilities fur potentially 4,000 students. Fairleigh Dickinson, presently the third largest college in the state, has a total enrollment of 2,851, approximately 1,200 of whom are day students. Bergen Junior College presently has an enrollment of 197 day students and 207 in its Evening Division."</ref> After [[World War II]], there was a second major spurt of building and population growth. The African American population in the northeast corner of Teaneck grew substantially starting in the 1960s, accompanied by [[white flight]] triggered by [[blockbusting]] efforts of township real estate agencies.<ref>Garbarine, Rachel. [http://www.teaneck.org/virtualvillage/PortraitOfTeaneck/liveinTeaneck1987.html "If You're Thinking of Living in: Teaneck"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080327215433/http://www.teaneck.org/virtualvillage/PortraitOfTeaneck/liveinTeaneck1987.html |date=March 27, 2008 }}, copy of article from ''[[The New York Times]]'', October 11, 1987. Accessed April 29, 2008. "For Teaneck, it was a far-from-quiet period, underscored by blockbusting and white flight in the early 60's. The influx of black families set off [[panic selling]] among white homeowners encouraged by some unscrupulous real-estate agents to get rid of their properties."</ref> In 1965, after a struggle to address de facto segregation in housing and education, Teaneck became the first community in the nation where a white majority voluntarily voted for school integration, without a [[Court-ordered busing|court order]] requiring the district to implement the change. The sequence of events was the subject of a book titled ''Triumph in a White Suburb'' written by township resident Reginald G. Damerell (New York: William Morrow & Company, Inc., 1968).<ref>[[Whitney Young|Young Jr., Whitney M.]] [https://www.nytimes.com/1968/02/18/archives/guidebook-for-a-workable-revolution-triumph-in-a-white-suburb-the.html "Guidebook for a Workable Revolution; ''Triumph in a White Suburb. The Dramatic Story of Teaneck, N. J., The First Town in the Nation to Vote for Integrated Schools''. By Reginald G. Damerell. 351 pp. New York: William Morrow & Co. $5."], ''[[The New York Times]]'', February 18, 1968. Accessed January 16, 2012.</ref><ref>[[Norimitsu Onishi|Onishi, Norimitsu]]. [https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/11/nyregion/statewide-imbalance-persists-defying-courts.html "Statewide; Imbalance Persists, Defying Courts"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', June 11, 1995. Accessed October 8, 2019. "Perhaps the most famous case was Teaneck, the first community in the United States to endorse a voluntary integration program. In 1964, Teaneck was mostly white, except for one elementary school in a mainly black part of town. After demonstrations, fights and petitions -- later chronicled in a book, ''Triumph in a White Suburb,'' by Reginald G. Damerell -- the school board adopted a desegregation plan. Teaneck's schools remain integrated; so do Montclair's, desegregated after a Federal court order in 1968."</ref> As de facto [[racial segregation]] increased, so did tensions between residents of the northeast and members of the predominantly white male Teaneck Police Department. On the evening of April 10, 1990, the Teaneck Police Department responded to a call from a resident complaining about a teenager with a gun. After an initial confrontation near Bryant School and a subsequent chase, [[Phillip Pannell]], an African American teenager, was shot and killed by Gary Spath, a white Teaneck police officer. Spath said he thought Pannell had a gun and was turning to shoot him. Witnesses said Pannell was unarmed and had been shot in the back. Protest marches, some violent, ensued; most African Americans believed that Pannell had been killed in cold blood, while other residents insisted that Spath had been justified in his actions. Testimony at the trial claimed that Pannell was shot in the back, and that he was carrying a gun. A police officer testified to finding a modified starter's pistol with eight cartridges in Pannell's jacket pocket.<ref>Hanley, Robert. [https://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/07/nyregion/witness-contradicts-major-detail-in-teaneck-officer-s-testimony.html "Witness Contradicts Major Detail in Teaneck Officer's Testimony"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', February 7, 1992. Accessed September 30, 2009. "Officer Blanco and Officer Spath have both said that Mr. Pannell's left hand was in his left pocket, where Officer Blanco said he found a modified starter's pistol containing eight cartridges after Mr. Pannell was killed."</ref> Spath was ultimately acquitted on charges of reckless [[manslaughter]] in the shooting. Some months after Spath had been cleared, he decided to retire from law enforcement. The incident was an international news event that brought Reverend [[Al Sharpton]] and [[Jesse Jackson]] to the community and inspired the 1995 book ''Color Lines: The Troubled Dreams of Racial Harmony in an American Town'', by [[Mike Kelly (journalist)|Mike Kelly]].<ref>Beckerman, Jim. [https://web.archive.org/web/20121021090907/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-22485838.html "Teaneck: Anatomy of a Tragedy – New Book by Record Columnist Examines the Events"], ''[[The Record (North Jersey)|The Record]]'', August 27, 1995. Accessed February 13, 2008.</ref> Teaneck, and the neighboring communities of [[Bergenfield, New Jersey|Bergenfield]] and [[New Milford, New Jersey|New Milford]], has drawn a large number of [[Modern Orthodox Judaism|Modern Orthodox Jew]]s who have established at least fifteen [[synagogue]]s and four [[yeshiva]]s (three high schools and one for young men).<ref>[[Peter Applebome|Applebome, Peter]]. [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/nyregion/18towns.html "Proudly Diverse Teaneck Is Forced to Re-examine Its Assumptions"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', February 18, 2007. Accessed November 3, 2007. "There are at least 18 Orthodox synagogues in a town of 39,000."</ref><ref>[http://www.teaneckshuls.org/files/shuls.htm Synagogues in Teaneck and Surrounding Areas], Teaneck Shuls. Accessed November 3, 2007.</ref> It is the functional center of the northern New Jersey Orthodox community, with nearly twenty kosher shops (restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets).<ref>[http://www.teaneckshuls.org/files/RCBC.htm The Kosher Directory], Rabbinical Council of Bergen County, dated September 2007. Accessed November 3, 2007.</ref> It is within ten minutes' driving time of [[Yeshiva University]] in New York City.
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