The Reparations Commission of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey invites you to an Evening Prayer Healing Service at at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Plainfield, NJ at 3pm on October 4, 2025. The Rev. Canon Lindsey Ardrey, Canon Missioner for Diocesan Restitution and Reparations Ministry in the Diocese of North Carolina, will preach. Don't miss!
New book coming soon! Thanks to Mike Surber for the cover design!
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| Rev. Cn. Lindsey Ardrey, detail from ENS reporting |
The Diocese of North Carolina, in recognition of the harms it has done to Black people through slavery and racism, has formed a formal diocesan ministry of reparation and restitution. In 2023 it hired the Rev. Cn. Lindsey Ardrey as Canon Missioner to lead the Diocesan Restitution and Reparations Ministry. Under her leadership the ministry has produced several extremely useful documents including a report on the “History of Institutional Racism” in the diocese. Of direct relevance for reparations work in other locations are two documents in particular. One, is an excellent “Start Here” guide to the critical initial steps in the work of reparative justice in the Church. The other is a document designed to accompany the “History” report. The aim of this companion document (“Breathing Through a Difficult History”) is to provide an interpretive, pastoral resource for those processing the difficult realities of the historical material. These documents are invaluable resources, not only for those starting out in this important work, but also for those introducing initial results of their historical research to a wider audience. We commend them for your use.
If the original links are not working the documents are also available at the following locations:
"Start Here: A Guide on First Steps to Approaching Reparations Work"
"Breathing Through a Difficult History"
Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, Ph.D.
Reparations Commission Research Historian
Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey
The following is a transcript of remarks given by Ms. Linda Shomo of St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, Asbury Park, at the March 16, 2024 Stations of Reparations Service at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, Asbury Park.[1]
St. Augustine's Episcopal Church, Asbury Park. Photo by Jolyon Pruszinski.
Good Afternoon Saints.
My name is Linda Shomo, and I’ve been a member of St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church of Asbury Park for as long as I can remember. As a child I was baptized and confirmed in the old church on Sylvan Ave. I attended Sunday School, which started my spiritual foundation. Remember, it takes a village to raise a child, and St. Augustine’s provided that safe space.
I was an officer in E.Y.C., Episcopal Young Churchmen and Churchwomen, and spent many awesome years involved in activities on the convocation level and diocesan level of the Episcopal Church. It was also our social safe space, where we engaged with other Episcopal youth. We joined everyone at Medford Lake for weekend retreats, both spiritual and social. Those memories are still a part of my happy days (I’m dating myself here).
My love of music (i.e. singing) reconnected me back to St. Augustine’s to sing in the choir. I’ve been involved in praising the Lord through singing for over fifty-five years. Music feeds me spiritually and enhances my worship.
I’ve always had a love of young people, so it was not a surprise when I became a young adult youth leader at a very young age. I wanted other young folks to experience the love of Jesus through fellowship and worship. I spent over seven years on the Diocesan Youth Council as an advisor. I also taught Sunday school and was the superintendent of Sunday school for many years.
St. Augustine’s is a Historic Black Church. It was founded by The Rev. A.J. Miller, Rector of Trinity Church, Asbury Park. As a result of the Cottage Mission Services, he conducted in 1890 for the people of the Westside of Asbury Park, Bishop John Scarborough took great interest in the work being accomplished by Rev. Miller and he turned over $637.43, the Advent Offering of 1892, for the purpose of property and the construction of a Chapel. Through hard work and sacrifices, land was purchased. On All Saints Day 1893, Rev. Miller laid the cornerstone for the Chapel on Sylvan Ave. On January 3, 1894, Bishop Scarborough blessed the Chapel and the first Eucharist was performed on January 14, 1894. [From] the inception of this first building program, the congregation and countless friends made many donations to the Chapel.
It was recommended by 1904 that we apply for status as a Parish, and we’ve been a Parish ever since. We continued to grow in numbers, heavily involved in the community and doing great things. Due to urban renewal, we relocated to this current church building, which was dedicated on October 17, 1971 by Bishop Albert Van Duzer. We were able to retire the mortgage in 1995. We have always been a parish of highly professional members, which includes doctors, nurses, lawyers, engineers, teachers, police officers – including the first Black Chief of Police, State Assembly Person, first Black Mayor of Asbury Park, and numerous City Council Members.
I was born and raised in Neptune, the next town over from Asbury Park, and I ‘ve always known about Trinity Episcopal Church, Asbury Park and the connected history of both churches. Most importantly, I also lived through this history as a teenager. We never felt welcomed to join them in activities and worship. We were allowed occasionally to use the gym for basketball, but never jointly with the Trinity youth. It wasn’t until later in my life that we were invited and welcomed to participate. Asbury Park as a whole was, and still is, divided by the Eastside and across the railroad tracks the Westside.
[There was] a riot in Asbury Park from July 4 through July 10, 1970. Looting and destruction left more than 180 people injured and [an] estimated five million dollars in damages. It was stated by the Asbury Park-Neptune NAACP that lack of jobs, vacant housing situations caused by “urban renewal,” and non-inclusion of the Westside in decision-making played a major role in the cause of this riot. I remember participating in a Prayer Vigil with St. James Episcopal Church, Bradley Beach, with the late Rev. Kenneth Gluckow, at St. Augustine’s right after the riot ended, praying for peace and restoration of the city.
Urban towns to black folks are special. Some of us were born and raised in these towns and we remain committed to lifting up and sustaining our urban towns to succeed and prosper. Sometimes we need assistance to sustain the standard levels that suburban towns take for granted. We don’t always have opportunities to advance our properties but nonetheless, we desire to remain on an even playing field. Asbury Park is a prime example of this fact. The Eastside is now completely gentrified. When Asbury Park was in trouble financially after White-flight, Black folks remained on the Eastside and Westside owning homes and businesses in the downtown area. We remained loyal even when the town did not show us love. No money was ever available to develop businesses and properties. Projects remained incomplete and the town went down even farther. At some point in time, developers started investing money in land and properties, and to-date Asbury Park is an eclectic town with million-dollar condos, town houses, and lofts.
We are loyal to our Black Churches and we want the same opportunities that are afforded to everyone else. We are sometimes invisible to society at large and we must remain united in order to make sure that we are treated equally, especially during these turbulent times, both political and financial.
St. Augustine’s remains committed to creating opportunities wherever and whenever possible. Outreach programs are vital to sustainability within our communities. We have [had] Sunday feeding programs since the early 1990’s and we feed our community each Sunday. God always provides a way, even during the COVID Pandemic. We also have an after-school enrichment program for our urban youth. We now have an enrollment of nine young people. We offer homework assistance, arts, crafts, games, a reading library, presentations on enrichment to show our Black youth that they can overcome all barriers and be whatever they want to be, positive role models, plus a full-course dinner meal. These young people look forward to Wednesdays. We now have a family who plans to attend Easter service. Thank you E.C.S.[2] for the grant which assists us in maintaining these programs.
St. Augustine’s remains fully involved on the diocesan and national Church levels. We stay visible and involved so that people know who we are, and that Asbury Park is the home of two Episcopal churches. Thank you for this opportunity to share my personal story of my beloved church, St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, located in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
[1] For a description of the service see Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, "Stations of Reparations Service, St. Augustine's Asbury Park, NJ March 16, 2024," DNJRJR (May 1, 2024): https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/2024/05/news-stations-of-reparations-service-st.html.
[2] Episcopal Community Services.
The following is a transcript of remarks given by Rev. Chase Danford of Trinity Episcopal Church, Asbury Park, at the March 16, 2024 Stations of Reparations Service at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, Asbury Park;[1] The narrative is a product of the research conducted by the Trinity Church Racial Justice Project founded in 2015:
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BaghChal, Trinity Church (Asbury Park, New Jersey), CC BY-SA 3.0
The racial justice history of Trinity Church is directly tied to the history of Asbury Park. Trinity is the oldest religious congregation, and traces its first worship services to gatherings of local Episcopalians in city founder James Bradley’s office, as well as some services in private homes. The first service outside a private home or office took place in 1874 in Library Square Park, just across from what is now the site of the church. Congregants gathered under a tent, and the service was led by Bishop Scarborough. Worship then moved to the new property, gifted by James Bradley, and a wooden church was dedicated in July 1875. Bradley granted land along Grand Avenue for all of the original Protestant churches in Asbury Park. These were all predominantly or exclusively White congregations. There is a plaque among the floor tiles of our narthex acknowledging Bradley’s gift. But it is important to note that there were people who lived within the bounds of Asbury Park long before Bradley bought the land.
The Indigenous People of the area that became New Jersey resided in these lands for approximately 12,000 years before European explorers and colonists arrived. The Lenape were named such for being “original peoples”, the elders or grandmothers and grandfathers who lived there, connected by numerous clans named by animals. The Lenape on the land that Trinity Episcopal now resides on in Asbury Park were part of what were called Scheyischbi, those who lived in the land between the waters of rivers to the north and west and the ocean to the east and south. The Lenape who resided within what is now the Monmouth County’s boundaries were primarily Unalachtigo [or] “people near the ocean” and members of the Turkey Clan. Those to the north of the Turkey Clan were Unami [or] “people down river” of the Turtle Clan. These peoples spoke dialects of Algonquin, and while many places carry traces of their original names, the cultures and meanings of those places to the Lenape have been erased by the colonizers. Trinity Episcopal Church recognizes that it occupies land that was stolen or underpaid for by the Europeans that settled here in the 17th century, in spite of the land purchases of James Bradley that marked the founding of Asbury Park.
Our church’s benefactor and the founder of Asbury Park, James Bradley, is also responsible in large part for the city’s policy of segregation. While he described himself as having no racial prejudices, he actively put into place White supremacist policies in order to advance Asbury Park’s economic development. From its beginnings, Asbury Park had a thriving population of people of color and it was noted by the New York Post as having the most racially liberal environment of any community on the East Coast. But that turned out to be a problem, and in the summer of 1885, ten years after Trinity Church was established as a summer congregation and twelve years after the city was founded, the headline of an editorial in the local paper, run by Bradley, declared that there were “too many colored people” in Asbury Park. “While disagreeable to say” (and editors wanted to make sure Black people had full rights and privileges), they are “becoming a nuisance” by “intruding themselves in places designed only for guests.”
A year later, in 1886, a young Black man, Mingo Jack, from nearby Eatontown was murdered by a lynch mob, accused of attacking a young White woman. In 1887, the Asbury park beach was segregated, with limited hours for people of color. In 1888, the city council supported Bradley’s proposition that any band hired to play on the beachfront be White and Americanized only. By 1903, people of color were restricted to an area of the beach known as the Mud Hole, where the city sewers dumped into the sea. In 1903, over Bradley’s objections, the city annexed the Springwood Avenue area of the West Side. Bradley feared that this action would give “our city the largest pro-rata colored voters of any city in New Jersey,” leading to “great depreciation of property.” The annexation went through, but the city did not provide basic services for decades. By the early 1920’s KKK was active in Asbury Park, including in some Protestant churches. We do not know whether this included Trinity.[2]
Moving back to Trinity’s early days in the 1870’s and 80’s, we have no records of any people of color being baptized, married, buried or listed as communicants of the church until 1890. That is not so surprising, given that it was largely a summer chapel during those years (although provision for year-round ministry was made in 1880), and that the resorts on the east side were segregated. We can assume but cannot definitely say that the church was entirely segregated. In 1890, Bishop Scarborough gave a stirring message at Diocesan Convention calling on the diocese not to neglect ministry to Black Americans. While he said that “in the Church of Christ there should be no distinction of race or color; that all should meet together and be one in the assembly of God's people,” he also indicated that segregated ministries would be preferred by all interests.
Soon after this address, in the Fall of 1890, Trinity’s new rector, The Rev. A.J. Miller (who had started in the spring) began what was referred to as Cottage Mission services for people of color on the west side. The bishop took great interest in the work of Father Miller and gave the Advent offering to begin work on the chapel. It seems he was instrumental in the growth of the mission. Fr. Miller was assisted in the west side ministry during the summer by students from the Bishop Payne Divinity School in Virginia, a seminary for Black students preparing for ministry.
After the mission was established, sacramental ministry to people of color did take place in Trinity Church itself. In 1892 - 93, there were fifteen baptisms of African American children and adults in Trinity Church or, on occasion, a private home. These baptisms always took place on days separate from the baptism of the White church members. The only exception is the baptism of three African American children with a White foundling. During the 1890’s, marriages of people of color, both Black and Indigenous, also took place at Trinity, even after St. Augustine’s Chapel was open. One wonders why the church felt it necessary to indicate the race of these individuals being baptized or married, but had they not, we would know even less than we do about the racial history of Trinity.
One of the children of color baptized at Trinity in 1891 was Rockel Florita Richardson, whose Cherokee and Delaware-descended family, the Richardsons and Reveys, originally settled in the Shrewsbury area in the early 19th century and later purchased 15 acres in Sand Hill, in what is now Neptune Township, sometimes referred to as West Asbury, renaming the area Richardson Heights. The Richardsons and Reveys then intermarried with many of the Black families of West Asbury Park. The Richardson and Revey family built the St Augustine’s mission chapel on Sylvan Avenue and donated windows and brass railings and served there as readers, acolytes, organists and leaders of the congregation for many years.
We know very little of Trinity’s racial history in the early to mid 20th century, but parishioner memories indicate that Trinity had a limited relationship with St. Augustine’s and that Trinity was almost exclusively White until the 1980’s or 90’s, when several prominent Black families joined the church. We can say that Trinity has never been led by a clergyperson of color and that all of its wardens over the past 149 years have been white. Several people of color have served on the vestry in the last few decades, although not in great numbers. We currently have one vestry member who is a person of color.
Attention and energy have been put toward becoming an anti-racist church, including diversifying the iconography of our sacred space. In the 1990’s, a wooden crucifix was commissioned to be designed by a Senegalese artist that intentionally depicts Jesus with non-Caucasian features. It now stands over our main altar. In 2008, a new set of windows above our chapel’s altar was dedicated, showing the Virgin Mary and other figures with non-White skin tones, alone among our stained glass. Only a few years ago, a Black child noticed that our Nativity creche featured only White figures, and so the family gave a gift of angel figurines of color to display at the top of the creche. This past Christmas, we decided that it would be the last Christmas we would display the White Nativity figures. Our children’s ministry team is dedicated to showing children diverse representations of biblical and historical figures in the curriculum.
About 7 years ago, we formed a Racial Justice Project to raise awareness in the congregation and community, and we began collaborating more intentionally with St. Augustine’s Church. Around the same time, we began a Spanish language ministry in this city in which about one third of the people are Latino, many of whom are primarily Spanish speakers. Three years ago we began an intentional process of thinking about Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in our hiring process, although our staff still does not represent the wider diverse community in which we live. Two and a half years ago, when we hired our new Music Director, our job description specifically stated that we expected the successful candidate to lead us into worshiping with music from across the diverse spectrum of the American and global church, and we have been doing that. Advocacy from our congregation has been valuable in the City Council’s passage of legislation establishing Indigenous People’s Day as a civic holiday, in calling for a statewide reparations task force, and in establishing an equity in policing commission. This past year we commissioned a Racial Justice Audit team within the congregation to evaluate how we are doing in our efforts to become an anti-racist church. They have surveyed the congregation, conducted many in-person interviews, made presentations to the vestry, are compiling historical records, and are about to begin reaching out to members of the wider Asbury Park community to gather their input about our racial justice efforts.
Much work remains to be done, but we hope to move into a bright, anti-racist future as a congregation, and we hope to collaborate more with our siblings in Christ at St. Augustine’s Church.
[2] Editor’s note: According to research by the Diocesan Reparations Commission historian, it almost certainly did. See Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, “Episcopal Sympathy for the KKK in New Jersey: Initial Observations,” DNJRJR (January 31, 2025): https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/search?q=Asbury.
On Juneteenth, 2025 the New Jersey Reparations Council released its comprehensive report on the need for reparations in New Jersey: "For Such a Time as This: The Nowness of Reparations for Black People in New Jersey." The report covers a variety of relevant topics including the history of slavery and racism in the state, the current racial wealth gap, and the role faith organizations have played in slavery and racism. The entire report bears careful study, and should be read by all citizens of the state, but the recommendations for faith organizations are particularly relevant for the work of the Diocese of New Jersey Racial Justice Review:
"Faith institutions have played a significant role in the history of slavery and its aftermath in New Jersey, both through complicity and resistance. The Council recommends that religious institutions across the state, including religiously founded schools and theological schools that benefited from slavery, engage in a statewide reckoning on reparations and pay restitution. These organizations have a profound moral responsibility to address the historical injustices from which they profited. Some denominations have already begun reparations initiatives to meet this moral responsibility; more should follow. Religious institutions that benefited from slavery should engage in conversations with Black faith institutions and Black congregations to facilitate a theological reckoning, reconciliation and restorative work towards reparations. Religious institutions should invest funds, including grants and endowments for buildings, in New Jersey’s Black religious institutions."
We couldn't agree more. Thank you to the members of the New Jersey Reparations Council for your hard work and for the robust reporting.
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| One of the institutions founded through the work of the Freedman's Commission: St. Augustine's Normal School, Raleigh, NC (1886-87 catalogue cover, detail, courtesy St. Augustine's University) |
At the general convention of 1865, in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, the delegates of Episcopal Church voted to found a “Freedman’s Commission.” Though the needs of recently enslaved Black people in the south were indeed both various and very serious, the Commission’s mandate was, in comparison to the need, rather limited. At the time of its creation the Commission’ purpose was circumscribed narrowly to include only the “religious and other instruction of the freedmen.”[1] Even more limited was the success the Commission managed to achieve during its period of operation.[2] Generally speaking, the Commission did not successfully convince White Episcopalians to take up the concerns of the Commission as their own. And though there may have been the potential for New Jersey Episcopalians to respond differently from the rest of the Church, in fact the Diocese of New Jersey supported the work of the Commission only haltingly.
There were multiple reasons why New Jersey Episcopalians might have responded more favorably to the work of the Freedman’s Commission than others within the larger denomination. Among these were the fact that New Jersey had remained a slave state, literally in all but name,[3] through the end of the Civil War. Residents of New Jersey were some of the northerners most familiar with the tragedies of slavery and might have been well positioned to recognize the great need to support recently freed Black people.
Perhaps even more significantly, the priest appointed as director of the Commission work[4] was the Rev. J. Brinton Smith, who hailed from the Diocese of New Jersey.[5] He had resigned from the rectorship of St. Matthew’s Church, Jersey City in order to take the position and brought many relationships with New Jersey clergy and congregations to his work with the Commission. However, these factors seemed to have played little role in convincing many white Episcopalians from the Diocese of New Jersey to support the work.
New Jersey Episcopalians had for years been among those in the state most linked to slavery and most sympathetic to the southern cause.[6] And rather than immediately recognizing the need to support the Freedmen as they carved out a new life of freedom, there was a clear comparative preference in the Diocese in the years following the war for supporting southern churches and clergy who had become poorer as a result of the war.
The immediate response in the diocese to the creation of the Freedman’s Commission was very limited. The diocesan convention journal of 1866 reports diocesan giving to the work of the Commission of $19.92,[7] augmented only by a gift from “the ladies” of Christ Church, Allentown of “two barrels of clothing.”[8] In comparison, diocesan giving “for the Southern Clergy” and “for Southern Churches” in the same year was reported at $142.22,[9] a difference of an order of magnitude. The Rev. A. Toomer Porter of South Carolina, gave a presentation at the convention on “the relations of the Freedmen and the Church, in South Carolina,”[10] for which the convention resolved to “hail[ him] with pleasure… for the good work in which he is engaged.”[11] Partly in response to his presentation, giving increased the following year, but it was largely not directed at the work of the Freedman’s Commission. The following year nine churches in the diocese[12] reported giving specifically for the work of the Commission but forty-seven to general “Southern Relief” efforts. Bishop Odenheimer’s pastoral letter of March 13, 1867, exhorting the churches of the diocese to take up collection for and send relief to the “sufferers… in the South,”[13] certainly had some effect, but this relative prioritization was certainly also the result of the closer connection white Episcopalians in New Jersey felt to white people in the South. Parochial giving[14] to the Commission in that year amounted to $221.12, while the amount raised to ameliorate “Southern suffering” generally was $3437.31.[15]
Clearly, when compellingly called and meaningfully convinced, the white Episcopalians of the diocese had the capacity to address dramatic perceived needs, it’s just that for a quite a long time they were neither compellingly called to, nor deeply convinced of the need for, significant financial support for the formerly enslaved. Diocesan reporting for 1868 shows that the number of congregations supporting the Freedman’s Commission had increased to thirteen,[16] but the raw total of giving was still entirely eclipsed by giving to “southern clergy” and “destitute southern churches.” In his Episcopal Address of 1868 Bishop Odenheimer called for greater giving, saying “let the claims of… the Freedmen… be promptly and generously responded to,”[17] but it was only a single sentence buried in a list of many other requests. After this half-hearted plea, giving for the Commission did not immediately, or broadly increase, involving only twelve churches in the 1869 diocesan reporting,[18] while giving for general “southern” relief continued to outpace Freedman’s Commission giving dramatically.[19]
After 1868 the Freedman’s Commission was renamed the Commission of Home Missions to Colored People, but support remained limited.[20] In New Jersey it appears that responsibility for overseeing fundraising for the effort during this time was given to the Woman’s Auxiliary of the Board of Missions. However, oversight for Commission giving was lumped in together with (unrelated) Mormon missions, and it appears that the same racial predilections observed in parochial giving prevailed in oversight: In her 1877 convention address, the president of the Woman’s Auxiliary, Mrs. Tiffany, while noting the report on the Freedman’s mission, chose to emphasize how the preparation of boxes for the “clergymen in the South, [had] been a particular pleasure” and how
in these days of party strife in our country, what may so effectually tend to break its power as the manifestation of the Spirit of our Divine Master, who in His boundless love, ignored all differences of race and condition, and to whom all were ‘one in Christ Jesus.’[21]
It seems that white Episcopalians in New Jersey were very concerned to avoid the appearance of giving preferential treatment to recently freed Black Americans, in part, by making sure to generously support the white Southerners who had participated in their enslavement. By the time the work of the Commission was fully folded into the Board of Missions in 1878, parochial support in the diocese, which had never been consistent, had actually atrophied.[22]
In the immediate aftermath of the war, Black migration to the north exploded, and between 1870 and 1910 the Black population of New Jersey tripled.[23] However, the single Black Church in the diocese until 1874, St. Philips, Newark, received only mild financial support, and after the diocese split into the Diocese of Newark and the Diocese of (southern) New Jersey, there were no Black churches in the diocese for decades.[24] There was a mission at the Black settlement of Macedonia (in Shrewsbury, NJ) starting in the 1850’s,[25] but it was never supported financially by the diocese, and only haltingly by at most a single white parish at a time.
By the time the Freedman’s Commission was founded after the war, there was already a well-established pattern of neglect of the needs of Black people in the diocese. And even as a program of diocesan support for freed Black people in the South was slowly developing following the Civil War,[26] the pattern of local neglect in the Diocese of New Jersey did not meaningfully begin to change until Bishop Scarborough’s clear change of heart in 1890.[27] The unfortunate reality is that the diocese did little to welcome Black people after the war, and giving to the Freedman’s Commission operated, essentially, as a way to externalize the issue from the diocese.[28]
The Freedman’s Commission ultimately ceased to be an independent entity in 1878, folding its operations into the Board of Missions. It had met with significant opposition from White Episcopalians during its existence, including outright hostility in the South, and disinterest and “aversion” in the North.[29] It did manage to create a few enduring educational institutions,[30] but the goal of more significantly and robustly supporting Black Episcopal life in the church in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War was only marginally accomplished at the time.
Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, Ph.D.
Reparations Commission Research Historian
Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey
[1] E. A. White, and J.A. Dykman, eds., Annotated Constitution and Canons of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States (Greenwich, CT: Seabury, 1954), 1:188.
[2] See H. Peers Brewer, “The Protestant Episcopal Freedman’s Commission, 1865-1878,” HMPEC 26.4 (1957): 361-381. Unfortunately, the article by Brewer is exceedingly racist, including even favorable mention of the Ku Klux Klan. Even though Brewer seems to have an agenda of delegitimizing northern interventions in the south, the article does nevertheless manage to articulate many of the actual failings of the Commission.
[3] In 1846 New Jersey ostensibly ended slavery, but only renamed the enslaved “apprentices for life” to their enslavers, who still legally owned their labor. Slavery was not outlawed in all instances except as a punishment for a crime until the Thirteenth Amendment to the (Federal) Constitution had been passed by a majority of states (New Jersey’s state legislature voted against this in 1865 and did not ratify the amendment until it was already the law of the land and a newly elected legislature was seated in 1866).
[4] Technically the position was named “Secretary and General Agent.” See Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Third Annual Convention Held in Grace Church, Newark, on Wednesday, May 30th, M,DCCC,LXVI (Philadelphia: J.B. Chandler, 1866), 72.
[5] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Third Annual Convention, 72.
[6] Such prolific enslavers as Senator Richard Stockton, and John Potter, enslaved hundreds of Black people on their plantations in the South, while maintaining residency in New Jersey and regularly holding important positions of lay authority in the Diocese of New Jersey. See Kyra Pruszinski and Jolyon Pruszinski, ed., “Trinity Church, Princeton and Slavery,” DNJRJR (April 10, 2023): https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/2023/04/trinity-church-princeton-and-slavery.html.
[7] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Third Annual Convention, 32
[8] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Third Annual Convention, 36
[9] That is, $16.64 and $125.58 respectively. Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Third Annual Convention, 32.
[10] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Third Annual Convention, 31.
[11] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Third Annual Convention, 36.
[12] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Fourth Annual Convention Held in St. Mary’s Church, Burlington, on Wednesday and Thursday, May 29th and 30th, MDCCCLXVII (New York: John W. Amerman, 1867), 63-109: St. Mary’s, Burlington ($62.96); Christ Church, Bloomfield ($14.50); St. John’s, Boonton ($20); Grace, Haddonfield ($10); Trinity, Moorestown ($13.78); St. Peter’s, Morristown ($42); Church of the Redeemer, Morristown ($16.91); Christ Church, Newton ($37.17); Christ Church, Waterford ($3.80). Of these nine only five gave more to the Freedman’s work than to general “Southern Relief.”
[13] This letter is reprinted in Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Fourth Annual Convention (page 161), in the appendix to the Episcopal address: “MARCH 13TH, 1867. ON THE FAMINE IN THE SOUTH. To the Clergy and Laity of the Diocese of New-Jersey: BELOVED BRETHREN: Authentic statements assure us that a famine exists in large sections of the South, and that men, women and children are dying for want of food. Let us, for JESUS’ sake, help our suffering brethren, and let us do it promptly, cheerfully, generously. I recommend that a collection, for the relief of the sufferers by famine in the South, be made in each Church, Chapel and Mission of the Diocese of New-Jersey, at the earliest day possible; and that the proceeds be immediately forwarded to James M. Brown, Esq., No. 61 Wall-street, New-York, Treasurer of the Southern Relief Commission. Affectionately, your Bishop, WILLIAM HENRY ODENHEIMER. LENT, A.D. 1867.”
[14] From churches in the Diocese of New Jersey
[15] This latter figure includes giving for “Southern clergy.” See Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Fourth Annual Convention, 64-111.
[16] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Fifth Annual Convention, Held in Grace Church, Newark, on Wednesday and Thursday, May 27th and 28th, MDCCCLXVIII (New York: John W. Amerman, 1868), 64-107: Christ Church, Belleville ($7); Christ Church, Bloomfield ($20.85); Christ Church, Elizabeth ($37.30); St. Paul’s, Englewood ($35); Trinity, Moorestown ($10.06); St. Peter’s, Morristown ($50.75); Redeemer, Morristown ($18.50); St. Andrew’s, Mounty Holly ($15.35); Trinity, Mount Holly ($20.38); St. John’s, Passaic ($13.37); Holy Communion, S. Orange ($13.50); Trinity, Swedesboro ($39.50); St. Michael’s, Trenton ($106.50); these totaled to $388.06.
[17] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Fifth Annual Convention, 175.
[18] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Sixth Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New Jersey, Held in St. Mary’s Church, Burlington, on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 25th and 26th, MDCCCLXIX (New York: John W. Amerman, 1869), 47-84: St. Mary’s, Burlington ($41.50); Trinity, Bayonne ($40); St. Paul’s, Englewood ($30.85); Trinity, Moorestown ($8.04); St. Peter’s, Morristown ($37); Grace, Newark ($26.04); Trinity, Newark ($237.85); St. John the Evangelist, New Brunswick ($12.61); Grace, Orange ($159.18); St. Paul’s, Paterson ($40); St. John’s, Salem ($51.77); Trinity, Swedesboro ($24.19); for a total of only $709.03.
[19] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Sixth Annual Convention, 47-92.
[20] It did grow slowly over time, though.
[21] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninety-fourth Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, In the Diocese of New Jersey, Held in St. John’s Church, Elizabeth, Tuesday and Wednesday, May 29th and 30th, MDCCCLXXVII (Trenton, NJ: John L. Murphy, 1877), 35.
[22] The 1879 diocesan convention journal only reports eight congregations supporting the work, and the support is comparatively modest. Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninety-Sixth Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the Diocese of New Jersey, Held in Christ Church, New Brunswick, Tuesday and Wednesday, May 27th and 28th, MDCCCLXXIX (Princeton: C.S. Robinson, 1879), 104-136. For the next few years support was very modest.
[23] Giles R. Wright, Afro-Americans in New Jersey: A Short History (Trenton: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1988), 45.
[24] Though, of course, St. Philip’s joined the Diocese of Newark.
[25] Jolyon Pruszinski, “The Episcopal Mission at the Free Black Settlement of Macedonia, NJ,” DNJRJR (May 26, 2025): https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-episcopal-mission-at-free-black.html.
[26] This took the form of giving for domestic “colored” missions in the South. However during this period it was never more than a small minority of churches in the diocese that were involved, and even the raw totals of giving to support the Commission at the parishes did give, rarely eclipsed 1% of their total giving. See Jolyon Pruszinski, “All Parochial Giving (1866-1878) to the Freedman’s Commission in the Diocese of New Jersey,” DNJRJR (May 8, 2025): https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/2025/05/all-parochial-giving-1866-1878-to.html.
[27] Jolyon Pruszinski, “Bishop Scarborough’s Convention Address of 1890,” DNJRJR (January 1, 2024): https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/2024/01/bishop-scarboroughs-convention-address.html.
[28] As intimated by Bishop Scarborough in The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the One Hundred and Eighteenth Convention, Being the One Hundred and Fifth Year of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New Jersey; Held in St. Mary’s Church, Burlington, Tuesday, May 6th, and Wednesday, May 7th, 1890. Together with Appendices and the Episcopal Address (Princeton: The Princeton Press, 1890), 168-169.
[29] The Episcopal Church, “Mission to the Freedman”, originally posted at https://episcopalarchives.org/church-awakens/exhibits/show/legacy/mission-to-the-freedman, but since deleted. Archival access is still available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20240915072631/https://episcopalarchives.org/church-awakens/exhibits/show/legacy/mission-to-the-freedman
[30] Such as St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh, NC (originally founded as a “Normal School”).