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FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT:

Kryn P. Westhoven 609-530-6950

      Although it is surprising to many modern New Jerseyans, many of those enslaved people lived in this state, and their quest for their personal independence played an important part in New Jersey's role in the American Revolution – on both sides. Their stories are told in “Oh Freedom,” the New Jersey Department of State traveling exhibit currently at the New Jersey National Guard Militia Museum in Sea Girt through Labor Day.

 

      Some New Jersey slaves escaped to the promise of freedom proclaimed by the British and served in Loyalist military units while others enlisted in the Patriot militia or Continental Army in exchange for liberty – a promise sometimes reneged on. African Americans already free also chose sides as the Revolution in New Jersey became a civil war.

 

      The six panel display features copies of contemporary documents and newspaper articles, lists of black men and women who served on both sides, and a narrative of their struggles during and after the war, when many African American Loyalists emigrated to Nova Scotia, Great Britain and later to Sierra Leone in Africa, and African American Patriots petitioned for personal freedom and veterans' pensions.

 

      “With what consistency, or decency they complain so loudly of attempts [by the British] to enslave them, while they hold so many hundred thousands in slavery, and annually enslave thousands more, without any pretence of authority, or claim upon them.” So wrote Thomas Paine in his 1775 essay “African Slavery in America.”

 

      The museum is located on the grounds of the National Guard Training Center, Sea Girt Avenue and Camp Road, Sea Girt, NJ. It is open through Labor Day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. five days a week and on the first and third weekends of the month.

 

Contacts: Assistant Curators Joseph G. Bilby or Carol R. Fowler; 732-974-5966.