The New Jersey Historical Commission presents Exploring Black History in New Jersey: New Research and Discoveries, a webinar exploring projects that uncover and share African American history in the Garden State.

Scheduled for Tuesday, February 23, from Noon to 1:30 p.m., this virtual event will feature speakers from the 313 Project, Monmouth County Historical Association, and the Scarlet and Black Project. Attendees will learn about the latest research, historical stories and ways to access and support Black history in New Jersey.

Reverend Doctor Wanda Lundy of Siloam Hope First Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth, NJ and the 313 Project is first on the list of featured speakers. Reverend Doctor Lundy is uncovering the untold stories of 313 freed and enslaved Africans buried in the church cemetery in unmarked graves.

Next, the event will feature Dr. Alexandria Russell, Scarlet and Black Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of History at Rutgers University. She received her Ph.D. in History from the University of South Carolina in 2018 and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from the College of Charleston in 2009. Her book project, Sites Seen and Unseen: Mapping African American Women’s Public Memorialization, is a national study that examines the evolution of African American women’s public commemorations in the United States from the late nineteenth century to the present. She is the recipient of a W.E.B. Du Bois Center postdoctoral fellowship, a Digital Humanities Summer Institute scholarship and a Rose Library research fellowship to support her research. Russell enjoys engaging with community partners in New Jersey in her role with the Scarlet & Black Project that recovers the multicultural history of Rutgers University.

Also featured on Tuesday’s panel is Dr. Jesse Bayker, Digital Archivist, Scarlet and Black Project, Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis. He holds a Ph.D. in history from Rutgers University. His research for Scarlet and Black, Volume 1, brought to light the stories of two dozen enslaved individuals whose lives were intertwined with Rutgers’ early history.

The fourth speaker featured at the event is Joe Zemla, Associate Curator, Monmouth County Historical Association (MCHA). He and his colleagues recently founded the “Living & Breathing” initiative, with a focus on reinterpreting MCHA’s colonial-era historic house museums to include the stories of the enslaved African-Americans who lived and worked at the four properties.

The event is free to attend. Registration is required in advance. To learn more and register, visit: http://bit.ly/NJHCBlackHistory.