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African American Association

Both free and enslaved African Americans were active in the establishment of the African Association of New Brunswick, whose meetings were first held in in 1817. The African American Association of New Brunswick held a meeting every month mostly in the homes of free blacks. Sometimes these meetings were held at the First Presbyterian Church. Originally intended to provide financial support for the African School of New Brunswick the African Association grew into a space where blacks could congregate and share ideas on a variety of topics such as religion, abolition and colonization. Slaves were required to obtain a pass from their owner in order to attend these meetings. The African Association worked closely with Whites and was generally favored amongst most Whites who believed it would bring more racial peace and harmony to New Brunswick.

Shared Spaces

In New Brunswick, White and either free or enslaved African Americans shared many of the same spaces. The First Presbyterian Church, Christ Church and First Reformed Church were popular among both Whites and Blacks because New Brunswick was unique for its lack of spaces where African Americans could congregate exclusively. Most of the time these churches were under the surveillance of Whites. That was the case until the creation of the African American Association of New Brunswick in 1817.

Slave Hunters in New Brunswick

New Brunswick was a notorious city for slave hunters, who sought to enforce the Fugitive Slave act of 1850. The city was also a vital hub for New Jersey's Underground railroad. For runaway slaves in New Jersey, it served as a favorable route for runaways heading for New York and Canada.

African Americans who ran away or committed other race-based felonies were sent to New Brunswick's gaol (pronounced "jail"), which was located on Prince Street, which by now is renamed Bayard Street. When African Americans were using the underground railroad to escape either to or from New Brunswick, they had a high likelihood of getting discovered and/or captured from there and sent to New Brunswick's gaol. African American slaves who committed theft or murder, even if it was out of self-defense or survival, were also sent to the gaol for much of the exact same race-based reasons as African slaves escaping to and from New Brunswick, especially when using the underground railroad to do so.

African School of New Brunswick

The African School of New Brunswick was established in 1822 by the African Association of New Brunswick. The African School was first hosted in the home of Caesar Rappleyea in 1823. The school was located on the upper end of Church Street in the downtown area of New Brunswick about two blocks away from the prison that held escaped slaves. Both free and enslaved Blacks were welcome to be members of the School. Along with Huntington several other prominent Whites were treasurers of the African Association of New Brunswick. These treasurers supported the association which made some slave owners feel safe sending their slaves there by using a permission slip process. The main belief of these White supporters was that Blacks were still unfit for American citizenship and residence. They called for abolition through removal rather than traditional emancipation. The African Association of New Brunswick was still unprecedented as a space for both free and black slaves to get together while under minimal supervision by Whites.

Census records from April 1828, conducted by the New Brunswick Common Council, states that New Brunswick was populated with 4,435 white residents and 374 free African Americans. The enslaved population of New Brunswick in 1828 was comprised of 57 slaves who must serve for life and 127 slaves eligible for manumission due to the Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, passed in 1804. Free and Enslaved African Americans made up 11 percent of New Brunswick's population in 1828.

Market-House

The Market-House, located at the corner of Hiram Street and Queen Street adjacent to the Raritan Wharf, was the center of commercial life in New Brunswick. The site was a place where citizens of New Brunswick sold and traded their goods which made it an integral part of the city's economy. The Market-House also served as a site for regular slave auctions and sales. Because Market-House was so heavily populated due to its economic value, the sale of African Americans was a shared experience among residents of the city.

A Hub for Newspaper Production

New Brunswick soon became a hub for newspaper production and distribution. A prominent part of these newspapers were sections dedicated to private owners who would advertise their slaves for sale. The links between slave trades and newspapers were not hidden: The Fredonian, a popular newspaper, had its headquarters situated less than a block away from the aforementioned Market-House. This trend of advertising slaves in newspapers saw the New Brunswick community use prefer selling and buying slaves privately and individually than in large groups. It is also important to note that more than half of these individual advertisements were for female slaves, around the age of 20, which was considered the age for childbearing. This becomes an important factor when considering that slave owners wanted to find ways around the Gradual Abolition Act of 1804. For example, slave owners would get the most profit from the women who fit into this category because these women had the potential to "restock" on the slave stock in a household. In short, these advertisements were primarily found to be full of female slaves, with few male slaves on display.

Halfpenny Town

Halfpenny Town existed in early 19th century New Brunswick. It was located along the Raritan River by the east side of the city. Halfpenny Town was a place that was comprised of free blacks and lower class white people who did not own slaves. This place was known as a social gathering for free blacks that was not completely influenced by white scrutiny and allowed free blacks to socialize among themselves. This does not mean that it was free from white eyes and was still under the derogatory effects of the slavery era.

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Bibliography

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Boyd, K., M. Carey, and C. Blakley. 2016. Old money: Rutgers university and the political economy of slavery in New Jersey. n.p.: Rutgers University Press, 2016. Scopus®, EBSCOhost (accessed February 21, 2018).

Clemens, Paul G.E. "Planters, Merchants, and Slaves: Plantation Societies in British America, 1650−1820." Early American Literature 52, no. 1 (January 2017): 212-216. Literary Reference Center, EBSCOhost.

Fuentes, Marisa J., and Deborah Gray White. Scarlet and Black: Slavery and Dispossession in Rutgers History. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2016.

Gardner, A. (2016). Slavery in New Jersey. Social Science Docket, 16(1), 49

Gigantino, James. The Ragged Road to Abolition: Slavery and Freedom in New Jersey, 1775– 1865 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014).

Hodges, Graham Russell. Root and Branch: African Americans in New York and East Jersey (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999).

Keenan, Encyclopedia of American Indian Wars, 1492–1890,1999, p. 234; Moore, The Northwest Under Three Flags, 1635–1796, 1900, p. 151.

Listokin, D., Berkhout, D., & Hughes, J. W. (2016). 1. The Economy of New Brunswick: A City Reinventing Itself from Inians Ferry to the Information Age. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

Nelson, William. Personal names of Indians of New Jersey: Being a List of Six Hundred and Fifty Such names, Gleaned Mostly from Indians Deeds of the Seventeenth Century. (Paterson, NJ: The Paterson History Club, 1904).

New York/New Jersey Abolitionist Hall of Fame. (2012). Social Science Docket, 12(2), 45.

Rasmussen, Chris. "A Web of Tension": The 1967 Protests in New Brunswick, New Jersey." Journal of Urban History 40, no. 1 (n.d.): 137-157. Arts & Humanities Citation Index, EBSCOhost.

Article Evaluation
New Brunswick, NJ article has a very brief section on the African American community. It mentions slavery, but only mentions the 1810 census - needs more information on the New Brunswick enslaved community, gaols that held the enslaved and runaways, and the more updated information on the African American community as it exists today. The Points of Interest section could be updated with some of the additions to the campus due to the Scarlet and Black project, Will's Way. The section uses the site "New Jersey's African American Tour Guide" as a citation - it could also mention actual tours that go on in New Brunswick and on campus to map the history of slavery and African Americans in New Brunswick. Very distracted by the long list of celebrities - needs more historical information about the city's demographic population past and present. Katmannoia (talk) 16:51, 14 February 2018 (UTC)