Commerce Bank Ramsey Nj

Posted onDecember 13, 2011 - 11:36 pm by Admin | 0 Comments

Two years after New Jersey ratified its Gradual Emancipation Act, and forty years prior to an official declaration by New Jersey to outlaw slavery, newly freed slaves settled their own community in Skunk Hollow. In 1806, Jack Earnest, a freed slave, exchanged $87.50 for five acres. Skunk Hollow became home to over 100 families during the antebellum period through the turn of the 20th century. Archaeological shards and bits of structures remain, although well-obscured.

Skunk Hollow in Context- New Jersey Slavery, Abolition, and Manumission

Skunk Hollow's development as an independent black community is remarkable.

Since its inception, New Jersey was, among northern colonies, notoriously harsh in its treatment of blacks. In 1664, it awarded anyone who imported a new slave 60 acres. Slave trading was integral to New Jersey commerce. A special arm of the court dealt solely with slave crimes. Onerous laws restricted the rights and movements of slaves including, for example, one that prohibited assembly, and to be on the street at night. Just a few generations before Jack Earnest settled in Skunk Hollow, slaves were still burned at the stake in nearby Hackensack.


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