Slavery in Bergen County

While preparing for a sermon on the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birth, I did some homework about African-American history in Bergen County. It helps me to know history in order to understand the present and work for a more just and joyful future.  

Did you know that slavery has been part of the history of the state of New Jersey from the time of the first white settlements? Dutch, Swedish and English immigrants brought blacks form the west coast of Africa and enslaved Native Americans of the Algonquin nation. In fact, in 1664, after the English overcame the Dutch and took possession of the state, two Lords Proprietors, Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley “granted to every early colonist who went over the sea 75 acres of land for every slave he took with him, and by the year 1690 it is thought that nearly all the white inhabitants of the northern part of the State were slaveowners.” (Source: William Alexander Linn, “Slavery in Bergen County, NJ,” in Papers and Proceedings of the Bergen County Historical Society, 1902-1905.)  

Thus, one major source of capital for white folks, especially English and Dutch farmers, was slave labor. This history goes on to describe chilling reports of bills of sale, laws regulating slave behavior, manumission and capital punishment. N.J. State law allowed, and there are documented cases, slaves being burned at the stake for unproven allegations of murder, rape or arson.

By 1726, nearly 2,600 slaves were in New Jersey, 8% of the colony’s population. By 1745 that number more than doubled to 4,700 slaves, accounting for 7.5% of New Jersey’s population. 

“Slave ships called at Camden and Perth Amboy, and in 1762, slaves were still being sold on the block at Camden. At Perth Amboy in 1776, there was but one household employing free white servants. Somerset County, in 1790, averaged one slave to every six free persons, and by 1800 the same average prevailed in Bergen County, totalling 12,422 slaves in New Jersey [Note: Bergen County included what is now Hudson County until 1842, and more than half of Passaic County until 1830].  With the exception of New York, no state north of the Mason and Dixon Line had so large a slave population.” (Source: “New Jersey and the Civil War.”)

This makes sense since agriculture was at the core of Bergen County's economic resources. It doesn't make any sense at all from the modern perspective that sees the kidnapping, ownership and forced labor of any person as abhorrent. This history sets in motion an increasing gap in access to resources, including capital, education, employment, housing, health care and legal protection for black and white residents of the county (and state and nation). Before we can address current disparities in the social and economic situations of people of different ethnicities, we need to understand the historical context. 

Some citizens in New Jersey however opposed slavery. The article, "New Jersey and the Civil War" reports that “New Jersey's first abolition society was organized at Trenton in 1786, and another was formed in Burlington in 1793. A year later the Abolition Society of Salem was active in the defense of kidnapped Negroes, purchasing their freedom if necessary. In 1786 New Jersey enacted legislation that essentially bans the further importation of slaves, thereby ending the African slave trade to New Jersey. In two letters, written in 1786, George Washington pointed out the existence of systematic attempts to aid and protect fugitive slaves in western New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Washington, a slaveholder who advocated the gradual abolition of slavery, wrote that it was not easy to capture fugitives "where there are numbers who would rather facilitate the escape of slaves than apprehend them when runaways."

Quoting again from "NJ and the Civil War:"

“New Jersey is also identified with the Underground Railroad two most celebrated figures, Harriet Tubman and William Still. No other northern state exceeded New Jersey in the number of all-black communities that served the sanctuaries for southern fugitive slaves Towns like Springtown (Cumberland County), Marshalltown (Salem County), Snow Hill (now Lawnside, Camden County) and Timbuctoo (Burlington County) were among such places located mainly in the rural South in which fugitive slaves settled. New Jersey was intimately associated with Philadelphia and the adjoining section in the underground system, and afforded at least three important outlets for runaways from the territory west of the Delaware River. Knowledge of these outlets is derived solely from the testimony of the Rev. Thomas Clement Oliver, who, like his father, traveled the New Jersey routes many times as a guide and conductor.”

There is a small slave cemetery, Hopper Slave Cemetery (adjoining Hopper Cemetery) located on land owned by Ramapo State College, just off of Route 202. Even in death people were separated.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s national holiday is almost over, but the work of uncovering history, bringing people together and moving forward goes on. The more we know about the social, economic, historical and political structures that have divided us, the more we can redress grievances and establish a more level playing field for all.

I paraphrase the prayer written by the The Episcopal Church to honor Dr. King: 

Almighty God, by the hand of Moses your servant you led your people out of slavery, and made them free at last. Grant that all people, following the example of your prophet Martin Luther King, may resist oppression in the name of your love, and may secure for all your children the blessed liberty and justice necessary to live in peace. Amen.