February 2, 2022
A Proud Heritage: The African American Presence in the Sourland Mountain Area and Surrounding Regions of New Jersey
Elaine Buck and Beverly Mills
Authors and Co-founders of the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum
Minutes of the 18th Meeting of the 80th Year
President Stephen Schreiber called the meeting to order, and Julianne Elward-Berry read the minutes from the prior meeting. There were 137 unique viewers including 24 guests:
Janine Lacava, Trish Scalese , Stephanie Ives, Eileen Fraker, Eileen Gibbons, Erin Dolan, Colleen Lang, Suzanne D’Amico-Sharp, Jack McCullugh, Elizabeth Ducello, Anthony Fucello, and Liz Garvey (guests of Marge D’Amico); Adria Sherman, Jane Fetter, Judy Langille, Allegra D’Adamo, Joyce Felsenfeld, Melitta VanderBrooke, and Caitlin Rizzo (guests of Christine Danser); Michael Kingston (guest of Charles Clark); Patricia Shanley (guest of Lincoln Hollister); Susan and Alan Tarr (guests of Nancy Beck); and Georgia Whidden (guest of Keith Wheelock).
Christine Danser introduced the day’s speakers: Sharon Elaine Buck and Beverly Mills. Their talk, “A Proud Heritage: African American Presence in the Hopewell Valley, Sourland Mountain Area, and Surrounding Regions of New Jersey,” focused on their historic research into the “the long-forgotten lives of African American men and women resting in local burial grounds.”
Ms. Buck and Ms. Mills, who live in their ancestral homes in Pennington and Hopewell, respectively, are the authors of the 2016 book, If These Stones Could Talk, and are cofounders of the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum in Hopewell. Their research has won them several awards and much recognition, including their being selected as featured speakers on the 2020 TEDx event “Fearless Women.”
For them, it all began with a phone call: In 2006, an elderly gentleman from East Amwell reached out to Ms. Mills for assistance in stopping the proposed demolition of a little known historic burial ground by a neighbor who planned to install a driveway. Not familiar with the site, Ms. Mills, with the assistance of Ms. Buck, began to investigate, wondering who, in fact, was buried there. They successfully uncovered its story and were able to halt the destruction.
This success led them to question the history behind other African American burial grounds throughout the region, including the Stoutsburg Cemetery, which dates back to the early 19th century and is not far from where they grew up. How, why and from where, they wondered, did such a significant number of African Americans come to settle in this particular area, which is predominately white? Who is buried at these sites?
Using materials gleaned from local historical societies, museums, halls of records, funeral homes, and the archives at Rutgers University, the two were able to reconstruct a model of the early slave trade in New Jersey, which, around the year 1800, included as many as 12,000 slaves statewide and approximately 2,000 in Mercer County.
Their research has uncovered much that was not widely known:
In answer to the question that first sparked their curiosity, these local burial sites are resting places not only for many of these former slaves, but for their descendants who continued to live here, including notable artists and writers, as well as veterans who have served our country from the Revolutionary War on.
Ms. Buck and Ms. Mills have continued their research and are currently working on a second book about this little-known chapter of our shared history.
Respectfully submitted,
Marsha Levin-Rojer
Janine Lacava, Trish Scalese , Stephanie Ives, Eileen Fraker, Eileen Gibbons, Erin Dolan, Colleen Lang, Suzanne D’Amico-Sharp, Jack McCullugh, Elizabeth Ducello, Anthony Fucello, and Liz Garvey (guests of Marge D’Amico); Adria Sherman, Jane Fetter, Judy Langille, Allegra D’Adamo, Joyce Felsenfeld, Melitta VanderBrooke, and Caitlin Rizzo (guests of Christine Danser); Michael Kingston (guest of Charles Clark); Patricia Shanley (guest of Lincoln Hollister); Susan and Alan Tarr (guests of Nancy Beck); and Georgia Whidden (guest of Keith Wheelock).
Christine Danser introduced the day’s speakers: Sharon Elaine Buck and Beverly Mills. Their talk, “A Proud Heritage: African American Presence in the Hopewell Valley, Sourland Mountain Area, and Surrounding Regions of New Jersey,” focused on their historic research into the “the long-forgotten lives of African American men and women resting in local burial grounds.”
Ms. Buck and Ms. Mills, who live in their ancestral homes in Pennington and Hopewell, respectively, are the authors of the 2016 book, If These Stones Could Talk, and are cofounders of the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum in Hopewell. Their research has won them several awards and much recognition, including their being selected as featured speakers on the 2020 TEDx event “Fearless Women.”
For them, it all began with a phone call: In 2006, an elderly gentleman from East Amwell reached out to Ms. Mills for assistance in stopping the proposed demolition of a little known historic burial ground by a neighbor who planned to install a driveway. Not familiar with the site, Ms. Mills, with the assistance of Ms. Buck, began to investigate, wondering who, in fact, was buried there. They successfully uncovered its story and were able to halt the destruction.
This success led them to question the history behind other African American burial grounds throughout the region, including the Stoutsburg Cemetery, which dates back to the early 19th century and is not far from where they grew up. How, why and from where, they wondered, did such a significant number of African Americans come to settle in this particular area, which is predominately white? Who is buried at these sites?
Using materials gleaned from local historical societies, museums, halls of records, funeral homes, and the archives at Rutgers University, the two were able to reconstruct a model of the early slave trade in New Jersey, which, around the year 1800, included as many as 12,000 slaves statewide and approximately 2,000 in Mercer County.
Their research has uncovered much that was not widely known:
- that most of the Africans brought to this area arrived by slave-ship from West Africa via the West Indies and the Carolinas;
- that these Africans were often first enslaved in West Africa, sometimes by their own tribal leaders for material gain, and held captive until transport was arranged;
- that upon arrival at local ports, they, some as young as 12 – 16, were delivered to local towns where they were advertised and sold at auctions;
- that Queen Anne of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1665 -1714) supported much of the New Jersey slave trade through the Royal African Company founded in 1672;
- that the colonial government of New Jersey facilitated slavery by including a number of slaves with each land purchase;
- that the state of New Jersey was one of the last to abolish slavery in 1804; and
- that freedom for the enslaved came primarily through manumission although promises of such were not always honored and, in fact, sometimes undermined through forced apprenticeship.
In answer to the question that first sparked their curiosity, these local burial sites are resting places not only for many of these former slaves, but for their descendants who continued to live here, including notable artists and writers, as well as veterans who have served our country from the Revolutionary War on.
Ms. Buck and Ms. Mills have continued their research and are currently working on a second book about this little-known chapter of our shared history.
Respectfully submitted,
Marsha Levin-Rojer