Van Harlingen Historical Society Commemorates Black History Month

By Candy Willis | Posted January 30, 2025

Van Harlingen Historical Society commemorates Black History Month with two exciting events.

New Jersey’s Underground Railroad (UGRR)

Join the Van Harlingen Historical Society on Saturday, February 15 at 2 pm in Montgomery Library’s meeting room for a lecture on the Underground Railroad by historian Rick Geffken.

Stories of Slavery in New Jersey by historian Rick Geffken

Enslaved people had been running away to freedom since before the United States was even a country. It was the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act, however, that incentivized bounty hunters to find the escapees and return them to their Southern masters for handsome monetary reward.

The term ‘underground railroad’ came about in the early 1830s when the ‘owner’ of Tice Davids, a man who escaped from Kentucky to freedom in Ohio, blamed the ‘underground railroad’ for his loss. After that, railroad jargon was adopted to describe the people and the stops involved in shepherding the enslaved to freedom. According to history.com, “conductors” guided the fugitive enslaved people to “stations,” “safe houses,” and “depots.” Private homes, African Methodist Episcopal churches, and schoolhouses, all operated by “stationmasters”, served as hiding places for the freedom seekers. The sites frequently contained secret rooms, compartments, and crawl spaces where the fugitives could eat, rest, and hide when necessary.

Montgomery seems to have been bypassed as a stop on the Underground Railroad although the contiguous municipalities of Princeton and Hopewell appear on the route maps. Montgomery is home to an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church, but it was not built until after slavery was abolished.

This program, free and open to the public, is suitable for adults and young adults.

Register at sclsnj.libnet.info/event/12797884.

Camp Meetings and Other Things: a one act play

You can also join the Van Harlingen Historical Society on Saturday, February 22 at 2 pm at the Harlingen Reformed Church for a one act play, drawn from a 1981 interview with Mae and Edith True.

Long-time Society member and historian Mae and Edith True (1908-2010) realized that older Montgomery residents had stories to tell for future generations. Over the years, he interviewed many of these residents – 29 of these interviews have been transcribed (thanks to a grant from New Jersey Historical Commission) and published by the Society as oral histories.

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In this particular oral history, Walter Baker interviews 86-year-old Mae, who is bedridden, and her daughter Edith. They lived on Hollow Road next to the AME church for 60 years. Mae shares her memories about the church’s camp meetings and other local goings-on. The play will be a verbatim dialogue, as recorded in the oral history, between Walter and the two women.

At the event, they will also celebrate George Washington’s 293th birthday with song and cake.

Please contact library@vanharlingen.org with questions.

Learn more at vanharlingen.org.