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Stories

Legislating Slavery in New Jersey
by Geneva Smith | Colonial & Early National (1746-1820), Antebellum (1820-1861)
The development of New Jersey’s legal code relating to slavery was marked by internal divisions. Ultimately, slavery was not fully abolished in the state until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865.

James Moore Wayne
by Trip Henningson | Antebellum (1820-1861), Civil War (1861-1865)
James Moore Wayne (1790-1867), a Princeton graduate from Georgia, personally owned slaves and served on the Supreme Court that denied African Americans citizenship in the 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford case. Yet he remained a strong Unionist during the Civil War, embodying the dissonant relationship between slavery and liberty in the United States.

Thomas Carter Ruffin
by Julia Grummitt | Colonial & Early National (1746-1820), Antebellum (1820-1861)
Thomas Carter Ruffin, Princeton alumnus and later Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, propounded the legal doctrine of slave-owners’ absolute power over their human property in the 1829 case State v. Mann.

Tapping Reeve and Mumbet: Abolishing Slavery in Massachusetts
by Suzanne Geissler Bowles | Colonial & Early National (1746-1820)
Tapping Reeve (1744-1823), Princeton alumnus and founder of the nation’s first law school, served as co-counsel in the 1781 case Brom and Bett v. J. Ashley, Esq., which led to the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts.

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

"A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin"
1853 | Antebellum (1820-1861)
Excerpt from Harriet Beecher Stowe's book A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, published in one year after the original novel.

Tapping Reeve
| Colonial & Early National (1746-1820)
Portrait of Tapping Reeve ('1763), founder of the nation’s first law school and co-counsel in the 1781 case Brom and Bett v. J. Ashley, Esq., which led to the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts.

Court Minutes from Furman v. Vanhorne
1786 | Colonial & Early National (1746-1820)
Minutes from the 1786 court case adjudicating ownership of Prime.

Deposition of William Churchill Houston in Furman v. Vanhorne
1785 | Colonial & Early National (1746-1820)
Deposition from the 1784-86 court case Furman v. Vanhorne related to determining the rightful owner of the enslaved man Prime.

Deposition of Thomas Janney in Furman v. Vanhorne
1784 | Colonial & Early National (1746-1820)
Deposition from the 1784-86 court case Furman v. Vanhorne related to determining the rightful owner of the enslaved man Prime.
News

New Work by American Artist Titus Kaphar to Be Unveiled November 8th
Princeton University Art Museum Press Release, 10/12/2017
A new sculpture by leading American artist Titus Kaphar will be installed in front of Princeton University’s Maclean House.

Princeton and Slavery: See, Do, Learn
Princeton Alumni Weekly, 11/8/17
There are a myriad of ways for the public to reflect on the legacy of slavery through the lenses of visual art, film, theater, history, and education.

Titus Kaphar Talks Art, University Connections to Slavery
The Daily Princetonian, 11/17/17
Titus Kaphar, an African-American painter and sculptor whose works are featured in the Museum of Modern Art, discussed the intersection between racism and Princeton University’s history in a lecture on campus.

Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison Lauds Princeton University’s Commitment to Change
CentralJersey.com, 11/21/17
Morrison’s keynote address, “‘Race,’ Imagination, and the Birthpains of Justice,” examined Princeton’s “long and complicated” involvement with slavery.

The Princeton & Slavery Project at the Thrive Conference
Princeton University, 11/5/19
Martha A. Sandweiss, Professor of History discussed the Princeton & Slavery Project with Melanie Lawson ’76, Journalist and Television News Anchor, at "Thrive: Empowering and Celebrating Princeton's Black Alumni."