The Curious Memory of Slavery in New Jersey, 1865-1941

Abstract

This article examines the historiographic memory of slavery in New Jersey through various local and state historical publications from the end of slavery in the state (1865) to the beginning of World War II.  It argues that in contrast to the prevailing historiographic contention that slavery’s northern past had been hidden until late in the twentieth century, New Jerseyans carried on a vibrant and mostly accurate study of slavery in the state at this time.