One of my passions is research that illuminates perspectives that are not widely appreciated in Black history and genealogy. I leaned about antebellum free Black people when I learned about my own maternal family. My mother's ancestors settled in New Jersey as early as 1815 and in Pennsylvania as early as 1795. On the left, I am holding a moonshine jug found while digging for landscaping on the land purchased by my 4th great grandfather in Timbuctoo in 1829. A neighbor told me it may have belonged to my Aunt Rosie, and/or one of her close friends who lived there two generations earlier. I "feel" this jug as a tangible connection to my lineage.
The fact that substantial numbers of free Black people were enumerated in every US Census between 1800 and 1860 is not something we typically learn in US History in high school. Who were these people? Where did they live? What did their “freedom” look like? I address this question very specifically in "Black People in the US Census Before the Civil War," below:
"Who is Buried in the Timbuctoo Cemetery, and How Do We know" AAHGS Journal, Vol. 41 (2024)
"Black People in the US Census Before the Civil War," AAHGS Journal, Vol. 41 (2024)
"Self, Service, and Social Activism: Community Archaeology at Timbuctoo, New Jersey" (with Christopher Barton) International Journal of Historical Archaeology (2023), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-023-00710-w
“Timbuctoo and the First Emancipation of the Nineteenth Century,” New Jersey Studies, January 2022
“Free People of Color: North and South,” AAHGS News, (November December 2021): 14-15
“The Battle of Pine Swamp,” AAHGS Journal, Vol. 35 (2018): 30-32
“Timbuctoo: A Free Black Community in New Jersey,” AAHGS News, (November-December 2017): 5-6
“New Jersey: A State Divided on Freedom,” AAHGS Journal, Vol. 34 (2017): 1-4
OTHER HISTORY AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION TOPICS
"Exploring My South Carolina Roots Through Cemeteries," AAHGS News, (April-June 2022)
"Historic African American Cemetery Hidden in Plain View,” AAHGS News, (May-June 2021); 14-15