In 1818, over 137 Black people from New Jersey and New York were deceived, kidnapped, and unlawfully sold into the domestic slave trade by Middlesex County Judge Jacob Van Wickle (of present-day East Brunswick, NJ). These human beings were then transported from East Brunswick to permanent servitude in Louisiana. 

In remembrance of Juneteenth, the Cherry Hill Public Library welcomes the Lost Souls Public Memorial Project, a grassroots organization committed to researching and commemorating the lives and legacy of the over 137 African Americans locally lost to the domestic slave trade. The presentation will highlight the resilience and resistance demonstrated by freed and enslaved Blacks who were sold to the Deep South out of New Jersey in 1818. The presentation will also shed light on how Middlesex County Judge Jacob Van Wickle orchestrated, facilitated, and participated in the state's largest illegal slave ring during the domestic slave trade.

About the Presenter: 

Kristal C. Langford teaches Black Studies at William Paterson University and is the Public Historian for the Lost Souls Public Memorial Project. She appeared in the New York Emmy nominated documentary, The Price of Silence and is a PhD candidate at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.