We conducted 24 presentations reaching approximately 1024 individuals. These included local historical societies, schools, churches, workplace programs for Black History Month and Juneteenth, as well as national conferences of the Afro American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS), and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH)
In January 2022, New Jersey Studies published Timbuctoo and the First Emancipation of the Nineteenth Century. In June 2022, the Journal of the Afro American Historical Society (AAHGS Journal), published Finding My Fourth Great Grandmother and Her Contemporaries: Ann Barnes Bruer Hall. There were also three shorter articles in AAHGS News, and the preface to Christopher Barton's The Archeology of Race and Class at Timbuctoo.
We had a consultation with Richard Grubb and Associates about ground penetrating radar, research, and technical assistance regarding the Timbuctoo Cemetery as well the cemetery of Mount Moriah AME Church, where Timbuctoo residents attended as early as 1826. Timbuctoo descendant families continue to use that cemetery today. Issues include identifying unmarked grave locations, ensuring protection of gravesites outside legal boundaries, various research issues, and cleaning and preservation of gravestones. This project is on hold, pending resolution of some logistical issues. Volunteer Holly Draycott also took it upon herself to learn gravestone cleaning and preservation techniques, and has done an amazing job. Among other things, some inscriptions thought to be permanently illegible are clear and readable!
Curricula and materials about Timbuctoo and antebellum free Black New Jersey communities were originally developed under Westampton Township's Timbuctoo Advisory Committee with funding from Burlington County in 2019, in cooperation with teachers from Westampton Middle School and Rancocas Valley Regional High School. Subsequently, teachers used the materials in their classrooms, and they were shared at some in service programs. In 2022, under the Timbuctoo Historical Society, county funding was awarded again. Project Director Guy Weston and teachers Cheryl Alspach, JoAnn Donnelly, and Kevin Risley presented at the New Jersey Education Association conference in November. That workshop resulted in other invitations, including an invitation to present at a Burlington County Education Association Conference in April 2023.
Timbuctoo descendant Guy Weston incorporated the Timbuctoo Historical Society in 2019. The Timbuctoo road sign, informational signs in the cemetery, and the curriculum project were developed when Guy Weston led Westampton Township's Timbuctoo Advisory Committee. The signs are located in the Timbuctoo Cemetery which the historical society now owns. Curriculum funding in 2022 was awarded to the historical society and the project now resides there.
The Timbuctoo Historical Society acknowledges American Legion Post 509 for facilitating funding for the sign Timbuctoo road sign on Rancocas Road, as well as Wesley AME Zion Church of Burlington for financial support and contributions to the informational signs in the cemetery. We also acknowledge the Salt and Light Company and the Rancocas Nature Center for assistance with fundraising projects, as well as the Timbuctoo Advisory Committee for early leadership on several initiatives.
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