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Stories

Princeton Students Attempt to Lynch an Abolitionist
by Joseph Yannielli | Antebellum (1820-1861)
In September 1835, a crowd of students descended on Princeton’s African American neighborhood to apprehend an abolitionist. The assault underscored the presence on campus of a large number of students committed to slavery and white supremacy.

Albert Dod
by Jessica R. Mack | Antebellum (1820-1861)
Albert Baldwin Dod (1805-1845) was a Princeton professor and a slaveholder at the time of the 1840 census.

Princeton and Abolition
by Joseph Yannielli | Colonial & Early National (1746-1820), Antebellum (1820-1861), Civil War (1861-1865)
Princeton’s faculty and students actively opposed abolition, creating a climate of fear and intimidation around the subject during the 19th century. Although some Princeton affiliates were critical of slavery, the institution demonstrated a catastrophic failure of leadership on the greatest moral question of the age.

The Potter Family of Prospect and Palmer Houses
by Trip Henningson | Antebellum (1820-1861)
Prospect House and Palmer House, both now University properties, have deep links to the Potters—a slaveholding family with strong ties to Georgia as well as to Princeton and the College of New Jersey.

Abel Upshur
by Matthew Karp | Colonial & Early National (1746-1820), Antebellum (1820-1861)
Abel Upshur’s political career began and ended with Princeton: in 1807, he was booted from the college for leading a student rebellion; in 1844, he was killed in an explosion aboard the U.S.S. Princeton. In the years between, Upshur was one the most influential pro-slavery statesmen in the antebellum United States.
Primary Sources

1840 Slavery Census
1840 | Antebellum (1820-1861)
The 1840 Federal Census for Princeton, showing the local slave population.

Census Record for Albert Dod
1840 | Antebellum (1820-1861)
Household records of professor and slaveholder Albert Dod in the 1840 US census.

Robert F. Stockton
1840 | Antebellum (1820-1861)
Engraved portrait of Robert F. Stockton, an officer in the United States Navy who acquired the territory that would become Liberia on behalf of the American Colonization Society in 1821.

Lewis C. Gunn
1840s | Antebellum (1820-1861)
A portrait of seminary student and abolitionist Lewis C. Gunn with his young son.

Stephen Alexander
Undated | Reconstruction to Present (1865-)
Stephen Alexander, who joined the Princeton faculty as an astronomy professor in 1840.
News

Princeton & Slavery: The Scientist’s Assistant
Princeton Alumni Weekly, 11/8/17
Famed professor Joseph Henry had an indispensable helper in his lab: a free black man, Sam Parker.