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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.

James Collins Johnson: The Princeton Fugitive Slave
by Lolita Buckner Inniss | Antebellum (1820-1861)
James Collins Johnson, a fugitive slave freed after an 1843 trial in Princeton, became a prominent figure in town and on campus over the course of his many decades working at the College of New Jersey.

African Americans on Campus, 1746-1876
by Joseph Yannielli | Colonial & Early National (1746-1820), Antebellum (1820-1861)
African Americans were a constant presence at the College of New Jersey as servants, support staff, research and teaching assistants, and students. They labored under harsh conditions on a campus dominated by racism 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.

The Minstrel Tradition at Princeton University
by April C. Armstrong | Reconstruction to Present (1865-)
Princeton students performed in blackface in the 19th and 20th centuries, until as late as 1949. The legacy of Princeton’s minstrel traditions continues to live on in American culture through the popular folk song “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.”
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.