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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.
Endowed Professorships
by Ryan Dukeman | Reconstruction to Present (1865-)
Of Princeton's more than 160 endowed professorships and lectureships, four honor men who derived their fortunes from slave labor or contributed to the legacy of slavery in New Jersey and the United States.
Princeton's Antebellum Boarding House Culture
by Megan Armknecht | Antebellum (1820-1861)
Between 1832 and 1863, more than 1,000 students lived in off-campus boarding houses while attending the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). Certain boarding houses catered to large numbers of southern students.
Stephen Alexander and Alfred Scudder
by Midori Kawaue | Antebellum (1820-1861), Civil War (1861-1865)
Stephen Alexander, Princeton’s first astronomy professor, held moderate antislavery views but denied the equality of Black and white Americans. At the same time, he may have employed an African American man named Alfred Scudder as an assistant on campus.
"The Celebrated Alexander Dumas Watkins": Princeton's First Black Instructor
by R. Isabela Morales | Reconstruction to Present (1865-)
Alexander Dumas Watkins (1855-1903), a self-taught biologist, conducted significant scientific research alongside Princeton University professors from the 1880s until his death in 1903. Despite holding no formal academic position, Watkins worked in Princeton’s laboratories and taught courses as the University’s first Black instructor—and the last until the 1950s.
Primary Sources
Lewis C. Gunn
1840s | Antebellum (1820-1861)
A portrait of seminary student and abolitionist Lewis C. Gunn with his young son.
Estimated Disembarkations of Slaves in North America, 1701–1870
| Colonial & Early National (1746-1820), Reconstruction to Present (1865-)
Chart showing the rise of the estimated number of disembarkations of slaves brought to Cuba from Africa between the late 1780s and the mid-1840s.