Type: Exhibition caption

Detail: Enslaved African Americans were first brought to colonial New Jersey by the Dutch in the seventeenth century. Slaves worked in agriculture, in trades, and as domestics. By the late eighteenth century, slavery was in decline. The Gradual Abolition Act of 1804 gave owners the rights to the labor of slaves born after July 4, 1804 until the age of twenty-five for males and twenty-one for females, at which time they were free. There were still many slaves in New Jersey after the passage of the law. According to the 1810 census, there were 10,851 enslaved Africans Americans in New Jersey out of a population of 245,562. A New Jersey law of 1846 abolished slavery, changing the status of remaining slaves to “permanent apprentices.”

Type: Exhibition case

Name: African Americans in New Jersey before the Civil War

Detail: A large and vibrant African-American community lived in New Jersey before the Civil War. On the eve of the conflict, the black population was 25, 336 out of a total of 646,699. Years after the abolition of slavery, African Americans still lacked legal and political rights. The new state constitution of 1844 restricted voting to white male citizens. African Americans in New Jersey also faced poverty, job discrimination, and racism. The Fugitive Slave Bill subjected escapees from the South to deportation. During the tense period leading up to the conflict, African-American community leaders emerged to play important roles in the abolition movement and the Underground Railroad.