Slavery in New Jersey
by Nancy Shakir

Early History

It is 1610. Against the gentle slap of water on creaking wood and strain of rope against metal pulleys of the caravel, are the sounds of gruff men, giving and taking orders. A 43-foot caravel, The Half Moon, flying the colors of the Netherlands, brings Henry Hudson and his disgruntled crew, hired by the Dutch East Indies Company, to the land that will soon become a Dutch outpost.

The Dutch, who first settled New Netherlands, as New Jersey and New York were known at that time, were deeply involved in the African slave trade. Most probably, although there are no written records, they brought Africans to New Jersey in the early 1600s to help build these outposts, New Amsterdam (Manhattan), and Pavonia (Hoboken and Jersey City). But, as early as 1628, Rev. Jonas Michaelius, head of the First Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam, wrote of the "the Angola slaves," (Cohen, 1994 p. 25). And in 1629, when the Dutch version of the plantation system, known as the "Patroon System," was instituted, each Dutch owner of land was promised 12 black men and women (Cohen, 1994 p. 25).

In 1644, the British defeated the Dutch and took Dutch holdings in the so-called, "New World," which included present day New Jersey. In 1674, the now-British colony of New Jersey was divided into two parts, known as East Jersey and West Jersey. East Jersey consisted of the counties of Bergen, Essex, Middlesex and Monmouth, and the capital was Perth Amboy. West Jersey was made up of Gloucester, Burlington, Salem and Cape May County, and the capital was the city of Burlington. The earliest written record of enslaved African people in New Jersey was in Shrewsbury, Monmouth County, where Colonel Lewis Morris registered ownership of 60-70 enslaved African people (Price, 1980 p.2).

Slavery was encouraged in New Jersey under the proprietor’s "Concessions and Agreement," which offered 60 acres of land for every enslaved African imported in 1664. The following year, the Agreement offered 45 acres for each imported African, and, in 1666, it gave 30 acres for every imported enslaved African (Wright, 1988 p.19).

In 1702, the two Jerseys united, and England’s Queen Anne encouraged commerce in the African slave trade. Because New Jersey allowed duty free importation of African people, the colony of New Jersey became the conduit to other states. Nearly all other states imposed a tax on the importation of men, women, and children from Africa to be used as slave labor. In 1726, there were 2,581 African people counted as slaves in New Jersey. By 1790, there were 14,185 (Wright, 1988 p.21), comprising nearly eight percent of New Jersey’s population.

African Resistance

Of course, African people, then, as now, resisted and rebelled against enslavement and oppression. A letter printed in the New York Gazette in 1734 referred to a slave rebellion of 30 African persons seeking to gain their freedom in Somerville, New Jersey (Price, 1980 p. 48). Additionally, throughout the late 1700s, there were assorted notices in newspapers offering rewards for runaways. In fact, the Pennsylvania Gazette carried an article in 1737 about enslaved Africans who were accused of attempting to sell a potion to other enslaved people so they could poison their owners.

Fighting For Freedom

In spite of the commonly held belief by whites that African Americans were incapable of being soldiers, enslaved African people fought in the Revolutionary War on both the Patriot and Loyalist sides. The British royal governor of Virginia, Earl of Dunmore John Murray, issued a decree, which promised freedom to those enslaved Africans who were willing to fight on the side of the British (Price, 1980 p. 67). This decree influenced enslaved Africans in other colonies, including New Jersey. The African Americans that fought on the British side were known as "Dunmore’s People." Although few New Jersey records are available, we know, for example, that in June 1780, a group of Tories, African Americans, and British rangers carried out a raid at Conscung, Monmouth County (Price, 1980 p. 68). After the Revolutionary War, some African Americans gained their freedom and returned to Africa; others relocated to England, while still others settled in British Canada in Nova Scotia. Today, descendents of "Dunmore’s People" reside in Nova Scotia, primarily near Halifax in the town of Dartmouth. Those known as "Dunmore’s People," gained their freedom nearly 100 years before the United States passed the 13th Amendment freeing enslaved Africans in the United States.

Abolition in New Jersey

Following the Revolutionary War, there was great emphasis on the equality of men. Unfortunately, New Jersey was the one northern state that lagged behind the others in abolishing slavery. New Jersey’s slave history is as schizophrenic as its current political status; full of avowed liberals, yet quite conservative in its legislative acts. In 1804, New Jersey passed legislation stating that children born after July 4th, 1804, of enslaved parents were to be free. The catch in this rule was that those "free" children would have to be servants to their mother’s owner until age 21 for females, and age 25 for males. True to New Jersey's southern style, the legislation stated that the slave-owner was only required to provide for the child for one year. At the end of that first year, the slave-owner would begin paying for the maintenance of the child. But, those fees were paid, not to the child's mother, but to the slave-owner of the child's mother. New Jersey continued to enact abolition legislation, which substituted long-term apprenticeship for bondage, so that, at the start of the Civil War in 1860, although a small number, there were still African-American people who were apprenticed for life.

White Resistance

New Jersey’s support of slavery in the late 1800s had two major components: economic and social. Many New Jersey companies, such as the shoe, leather, and clothing industries supplied slave states and, in particular, they supplied provisions to the owners for enslaved people (Wright, 1988, p. 28). This may help explain New Jersey’s continuing support of slavery.

Also, fear that runaway blacks would flood New Jersey, led the state to become one of the few northern states that supported the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which permitted runaways to be captured and returned to servitude in the South, in spite of having reached "free" territory.

Another component of New Jersey’s "benevolence" toward African people was the support in the state for the African Colonization effort. The colonization proposal of 1816 asked that a colony be established, "in Africa or elsewhere" (anywhere else?) for free blacks. Most free blacks opposed this proposal. One such activist against the colonization of free blacks was the Rev. Samuel Cornish, a black Presbyterian minister, who for a time lived in Belleville and Newark. He and other free blacks felt that because they had been in America for generations and had supported the economic and military life of this country, they were entitled to a life of citizenship in New Jersey and the United States.

The Civil War and the End of Slavery

Although black troops fought with the Union during the Civil War and 2,909 soldiers in the United States Colored Troops were credited to New Jersey (Price, 1980 p. 93), the state of New Jersey continued to behave in a "copper head" way. That is, New Jersey continued creating legislation and maintained an atmosphere that was pro-South. The state was clearly under Democratic control throughout the Civil War and the Reconstruction period. In 1860, New Jersey was the only northern state that did not carry the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln. In 1864, when Lincoln ran for reelection, New Jersey again voted Democratic. True to its southern stance to the end, the New Jersey legislature refused to ratify the 13th Amendment, the United States Constitutional Amendment that abolished slavery.

Afro-Americans in New Jersey
Giles R. Wright
New Jersey Historical Commission
Department of State, 1988

Freedom Not Far Distant
A Documentary of African Americans in New Jersey
Clement Alexander Price
New Jersey Historical Commission
Harvard Printing Co. of New Jersey, 1980

The New Jersey African American History Curriculum Guide
Grades 9-12
Larry A. Greene & Lenworth Gunther
New Jersey Historical Commission, 1997

The Ramapo Mountain People
David Stephen Cohen
Rutgers University Press, 1994

Activity Sheet

Here is a list of lesson suggestions to go with the essay.

1. Show students the film Sankofa, which depicts the slave trade through the dream-like remembrances of a present day woman. You can obtain the film (125 minutes) from Mypheduh Film at 403 K Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20001, telephone: (202) 289-6677. Have students imagine they are the protagonist of the story and have experienced enslavement. Then, ask them to write a 300-500 word account of this experience as part of an autobiography.



2. Have students compare and contrast the nature of slavery in the northern and southern colonies. Because the towns and cities of the North did not require the large numbers of slaves used in the sprawling plantation system of the South, differences involving maintaining African cultural traditions, acculturation and work patterns may have occurred. Have students work in teams to present their findings on two enslaved persons and the variables of those experiences. For instance, one could be from Georgia and the other from New Jersey.



3. Have students evaluate and assess why African Americans fought on the American or the British side during the Revolutionary War. Ask them to imagine they are black and that the Revolutionary War has not been won by either side. Divide the class in two parts, one side pro-British, the other pro-American, and have them debate their positions.



4. Have students examine Underground Railroad routes across the United States and in New Jersey (Greene & Gunther, 1997, p. 84). Ask students to explain the Underground Railroad and New Jersey’s place in that network.
   http://slaveryinamerica.org/geography/ugrr_1860.htm



5. Have students visit New Jersey historic sites that were part of the Underground Railroad such as: Peter Mott House:
   http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground/nj2.htm,
   
   Lawnside; Goodwin Sisters House, Salem; Croft Farm (Edgewater House), Cherry Hill; Grimes Homestead:
   http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground/nj1.htm
   
   Mount Zion AME Church and Mount Zion Cemetery:
   http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground/nj4.htm
   
   Bethel AME Church:
   http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground/nj3.htm



6. Have students research the life of William Still, a Burlington County resident who played an important role in the Underground Railroad.



7. Show students the film Glory, the story of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment and its effect on the acceptance of African Americans in the military during the Civil War.

Nancy Shakir teaches at Orange High School in New Jersey.