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Stories
Betsey Stockton
by Gregory Nobles | Colonial & Early National (1746-1820), Antebellum (1820-1861)
Betsey Stockton (1798?-1865), enslaved as a child in the household of Princeton president Ashbel Green, became a prominent and respected educator in Princeton, Philadelphia, and the Sandwich Islands (present-day Hawai'i).
William Taylor: Princeton’s Last Independent African American Campus Vendor
by April C. Armstrong | Reconstruction to Present (1865-)
William Taylor, a black entrepreneur in Princeton in the first half of the 20th century, was the third and last in a line of independent African American vendors who sold refreshments to students. The nickname students used for Taylor (a racial slur) reflected the casual racism in Princeton was still very much present during the postbellum era, as in the days of the first campus vendor, former fugitive slave James Collins Johnson.
Integrating Princeton University: Robert Joseph Rivers
by April C. Armstrong | Reconstruction to Present (1865-)
Robert Joseph Rivers (Class of 1953) was one of Princeton’s first Black undergraduate students and one of the first two Black members of the Board of Trustees. While in town and on campus, Rivers witnessed firsthand Princeton’s legacy of privileging the comfort of white southern students over racial justice.
Bruce Wright’s Exclusion from Princeton University
by April C. Armstrong | Reconstruction to Present (1865-)
Bruce Wright, future member of the New York Supreme Court, was accepted into Princeton in the mid-1930s. His offer of admission was revoked when he arrived on campus and administrators learned that he was African American.
The Princeton Plan
by Meagan Raker | Reconstruction to Present (1865-)
In 1948, after a century of segregation, the town of Princeton integrated the white Nassau Street School and the Black Witherspoon Street School with a system called the “Princeton Plan.” Contemporary reactions to desegregation revealed Princeton’s racial divisions as well as the Black community’s commitment to education.
Primary Sources
"Vote Republican"
November 2, 1947 | Reconstruction to Present (1865-)
Advertisement urging Princeton residents to vote Republican to support the new state constitution, which prohibited the segregation of public schools.
News
Princeton & Slavery Project Digs Deep into Town’s Past
Town Topics, 10/11/2017
Project explores Princeton's connection with slavery.