Slavery and Emancipation Laws in 19th Century New Jersey

Written by Regina Fitzpatrick
Published on February 2, 2024

Slavery and Emancipation Laws in 19th Century New Jersey is a class offered by Genealogy Librarian Regina Fitzpatrick.

Originally presented to celebrate Juneteenth in 2018, the links and information have been updated in 2024.

I wanted to pass along some useful online and print resources used to prepare this lecture, in addition to some general Juneteenth resources. The updated slide deck from the lecture is available on the Genealogy Research Guide. Please note that some collections referenced in this presentation have not been digitized. These are available to be researched via the New Jersey State Archives.

Links for Slavery and Emancipation Laws in 19^th Century New Jersey

New Jersey African American History Curriculum Guide: Grades 9-12, which includes pages 25-35 of Afro-Americans in New Jersey: A Short History
Text of Rev. Jacob Green’s Fast Day Sermon at Hannover, 1778
Princeton University Legislating Slavery in New Jersey
Rutgers University The Law of Slavery in New Jersey: An Annotated Bibliography
Slavery in New Jersey
Published Text of the Hornblower Decision (see especially p. 5-6)
New Jersey State Archives Early Land Records Database (under ethnicity select African American to see items related to African Americans in this Collection. Some items have been digitized.)
New Jersey State Archives New Jersey Supreme Court Case Files Database (under ethnicity select African American. A Writ of Habeas Corpus was the mechanism used to bring slaves before the Supreme Court to hopefully get them manumitted. Many of the cases involving African Americans, especially from 1775-1804 involve a Writ of Habeas Corpus.)

New Jersey State Archives Hunterdon County Manumissions (digital collection)
New Jersey State Archives Burlington County Slave Births (digital collection)
New Jersey State Archives Bureau of Archives and History (BAH) Manuscripts (use CTRL + F to search Finding Aid for “slave”, “slavery”, or “slaves”. Records are not digitized.)
Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Somerset County failed slave revolt articles are in Volume I p. 333, p. 334-337, and p. 340-342)
For more information on the Van Wickle Human Trafficking Ring, please see our blog post, linking to our 2023 Juneteenth Celebration Lecture, plus an interview with Archivist Vivian Thiele on the Van Wickle digital collection. In addition Rutgers University Scarlet and Black Research Center provides links to digitized content related to the Van Wickle Trafficking Ring.

Print Resources at the New Jersey State Library

New Jersey Slavery and the Law by Gary K. Wolinetz
Legal Executions in New Jersey 1691-1936 by Daniel Allen Hearn (Somerset County failed slave revolt hanging is on p. 9-10, only source seems to be below newspaper articles)
The Ragged Road to Abolition by James J. Gigantino II (see especially Chapter 9, Debating Slavery’s End)
Root and Branch: African Americans in New York and East Jersey 1613-1863 by Graham Russell Hodges