The Trenton Historical Society is set to offer a talk on three centuries of African American history at the African American Cultural Festival set for Aug. 16.
The talk will explore at two recent projects that document historic African American sites in the city.
The presentation begins in the 18th century with enslaved African Americans at the Trent House, followed by the development of several churches beginning with the founding of Mt. Zion AME Church in 1811. Education will be represented by the Higbee Street School, the first school for free public education of African Americans in Trenton, built in 1857 and still standing at 20 Bellevue Ave. The persistence of segregation in the mid-20th century will be illustrated by the Lincoln School and the Lincoln Homes. Political and social organizations will also be shown.
The Historical Society also plans to unveil its interactive map of Spring Street between 1930 and 1940. The map identifies residents and businesses on the block between Willow and Calhoun Streets, using the available census data. The map also presents photographs drawn on City of Trenton tax records from the 1930s now archived in the Trentoniana Room of the Trenton Public Library.
The program is free and open to the public at Ellarslie, the Trenton City Museum in Cadwalader Park. It is scheduled to run from 3 to 4 p.m.
Both projects were funded by grants from the New Jersey Historical Commission. The first produced a report entitled Three Centuries of African-American History in Trenton: A Preliminary Inventory of Historic Sites that is available on the Society’s website, trentonhisory.org. The second is the interactive map that will available on the same website towards the end of the year.
More information is online at taacf.com.
