Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Politics/National
HistoryNationalNews

Historic Honor Brings Former Underground Railroad Stop In New Jersey Out of Shadows

Posted byBy Marcus Howard | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

A historic marker will be erected at the remains of a Civil War-era Black community known as Colemantown, which includes a meetinghouse, in Mount Laurel, N.J. (Photo/Cherri Gregg via South New Jersey Journal)

A Black community in southern New Jersey that once served as a stop on the Underground Railroad for enslaved Africans on their journey to freedom will receive past-due recognition when it gets a historic marker on Saturday, June 17.

Only Jacob’s Chapel AME Church, its cemetery and meetinghouse remain of the 19th-century Black community known as Colemantown in Mount Laurel, N.J., a suburb of Philadelphia, according to the Courier-Post.

A marker designating the community on state and national registers of historic places will be unveiled at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at 318 Elbo Lane between the church and meetinghouse, the newspaper reported.

A celebration will continue until 4 p.m. with food, music and a historic theater reenactment to highlight the community’s place in history as part of Juneteenth, the nationwide commemoration of the announcement of the abolition of slavery following the Civil War in 1865.

The church, the Southern Burlington County Branch of the NAACP, the Historic Underground Railroad Museum of Burlington County and the Dr. James Still Historic Office Site and Education Center, which honors the life of a local Black doctor, all are co-hosting the event.

Colemantown is but one example of once-thriving Black communities around the country that have been lost to history.

The Rev. Terrell Persons, pastor of the church that has largely remained functioning since 1865, told the newspaper that the Jacobs Chapel AME Colemantown Foundation secured a grant from the Garden State Historic Trust to purchase the marker.

The meetinghouse, which is in need of repairs, served as the center of Colemantown, one of south New Jersey’s early African-American communities, according to The Mt. Laurel Sun.

“It is on the national register of historic places here in our township, and it’s truly, in my opinion, a gem to the township,” Julie Williamson, an attorney representing Jacob’s Chapel, told the newspaper following a November council meeting where a marker was approved solely for the church.

“Its history is very rich.”

 

Still independent.

We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top