If These Stones Could Talk: African American Presence in the Hopewell Valley, Sourland Mountain and Surrounding Regions of New Jersey

by Elaine Buck, Beverly Mills, Kimberly Nagy

Overview

Cemeteries have stories to tell, voices to unearth--and lessons from the past that we can draw upon to better shape the future. If These Stones Could Talk brings fresh light to a forgotten corner of American history that begins in a small cemetery in central New Jersey.

Authors of If These Stones Could Talk Elaine Buck and Beverly Mills started their journey through the past as two middle aged African American women with busy but quiet lives. They were both board members of the Stoutsburg Cemetery Association, a cemetery that is nestled in New Jersey’s Sourland Mountain region. The cemetery was purchased by three Black men in the early 19th century to bury Blacks with honor and dignity.

When Buck and Mills got an unexpected call for help, what began as a search through the woods for gravestone markers soon had them rummaging through land deeds and making relentless calls to state officials, archeologists and reporters. Their foray into historic preservation work convinced Buck and Mills that they had a lot more work left to do to connect African American history to local and national history books—within which they still felt largely absent from the most visible narratives in United States history.

In warm but unflinching voices authors Buck and Mills offer readers a unique window into our past. These stories, including dozens of oral histories, consecrate the collected lives of a minority Black community in a predominantly White region, a pattern of community that reflects a larger, deeply important but typically overlooked national story in small towns all over the United States.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781941948095
Publisher:	Wild River Consulting & Publishing, LLC
Publication date:	11/07/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	895
Sales rank:	803,538
File size:	8 MB

Table of Contents

List of Illustration and Tables

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Bunbury Special Acknowledgement

Introduction: Written in Stone

Chapter 1. How the Journey Began

Chapter 2. School for the Living

Chapter 3. Trapped in the Purgatory of History: A Tale of Two Marions and the Daughters of the American Revolution

Chapter 4. The African American Founding Families of the Sourland Region

Chapter 5. Property and Land: Relationships Trumped the Law

Chapter 6. The Importance of the African American Church

Chapter 7. Pioneers of Liberty: Local African American Military History

Chapter 8. Resident Voices: Narratives and Interviews of Descendants from the Sourland Mountain and Surrounding Regions

Chapter 9. Resident Stories: “I Never Knew That ...”

Chapter 10. Queen Hester’s Home Remedies and Recipes

Chapter 11. African American History is American History

Chapter 12. Looking Forward

About the Authors

Editorial Reviews

"Organized around the stories of men and women buried in the African-American Stoutsburg cemetery near Hopewell, New Jersey, this extraordinary book narrates the history of black communities in the Hopewell Valley and Sourland Mountains over a period of nearly three centuries. The authors place these stories in the larger context of American history in the eras of slavery, the Civil War, freedom, and civil rights. Part genealogy, part history, and part personal memoir, rooted in an amazing amount of research, and written with grace and flair, this book brings to light a rich past that had almost been lost."

— James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era

"Since the founding of our country, the recorders of history have not accurately transcribed the African American experience. Much of the African American history has been deleted, misconstrued and / or misinterpreted. Elaine Buck and Beverly Mills have taken the difficult steps to change the false narrative and provide clarification for generations to come."

— Marion T. Lane, Ed.D., Organizing Secretary General, National Society of Colonial Daughters of the Seventeenth Century

"An honest and thorough unveiling of this slice of American history has been long overdue. This is a wonderful read – a veritable page- turner. Elaine Buck and Beverly Mills are, at once, dedicated researchers and masterful story tellers. They have skillfully woven their personal experiences into a compelling multi-generational story of the formidable challenges faced and remarkable feats achieved by one localized African American community. It has broad implications for American society as a whole."

— Peter Moock, former Professor of Economics and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, and former Lead Education Economist, The World Bank, Africa Region and East Asia and Pacific Region

From the Publisher

2018-10-22

A debut history book focuses on a New Jersey cemetery while exploring the whole spectrum of the black experience in the region.

Buck and Mills both have deep familial ties to the Stoutsburg Cemetery near Hopewell, New Jersey. They have jointly served as trustees of the cemetery's association for more than 30 years. In 2006, someone distraught over the possibility that a nearby but unofficial burial ground would soon be bulldozed contacted Buck. The authors immersed themselves in research in order to find documentary evidence of the land's hallowed purpose, a task that begat this extended "detective-labor-of-love." The result is a panoramic history of the African-American experience in New Jersey and the region, concentrating on the Stoutsburg Cemetery, a powerful reminder of the segregation that persisted long after the demise of slavery. In fact, a state law made it criminal to bury blacks and whites on the same grounds; it was finally overturned in 1884. The historical landscape traversed is expansive. The authors discuss the centrality of the church for African-Americans in the area, the history of the black population's military service, and the nature of black landownership, which provided "real power and sovereignty" for otherwise disenfranchised citizens. They also dispel the myth that slavery in the North was more humanely practiced than in the South. New Jersey was in fact a brutal participant in and advocate of slave ownership. At the heart of this moving chronicle is the authors' impassioned desire to "break the cycle of America's historical omissions" regarding its black citizens, whose significant contributions have often been consigned to oblivion. "The challenges that African Americans face in proving their family history is a direct result of the lack of primary documentation—records of accomplishments or achievements in their lives," the authors assert. The study is meticulously documented and written in prose that is always lucid and often stirring. The authors tend to confront readers with mountains of detail—family genealogies and even recipes are provided—but given the mission to disinter a buried history, it's hard to quibble with their zeal.

A stunningly thorough and poignant study of African-Americans.

Kirkus Reviews