St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Perth Amboy
Stations of Reparations Service, March 21, 2026
Held at St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church, Elizabeth, NJ
Based on the address delivered by Louis E. Gumbs, Jr.
Edited by Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski
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| Integrated Children's Ministry at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Perth Amboy, 1958. From Executive Committee, St. Peter's Building Program, 3. Photo by Ernest Jones. MSS held at St. Peter's. Used with permission. |
Hello everyone, my name is Louis Gumbs and I am here representing St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. St. Peter’s is the oldest church in the Diocese of New Jersey. It was founded in the late seventeenth century and was very influential in the growth of the Church in New Jersey.
Because it is such an old parish St. Peter’s has a long and complicated history with racism. For over one hundred years, Perth Amboy was the primary location for importing enslaved people into New Jersey,[1] and even the very positive parish history book written over eighty years ago acknowledges that in the colonial era all of the White Anglicans who went to St. Peter’s were enslavers.[2] But even from this early time Black people were considered part of the church.[3]
As the gradual emancipation of enslaved Black people slowly changed race relations in New Jersey up to the time of the Civil War, some free Black people worshipped at St. Peter’s. Among them was Thomas Mundy Peterson, the first Black man to vote in New Jersey following the enactment of the fifteenth amendment. The state holiday celebrating his life is actually less than two weeks away, on March 31.[4]
So St. Peter’s has welcomed Black congregants for much of its long history, but not always on equal terms. For many years there was a separate Black mass, and Black people had to sit in the back of the church during integrated services. In the early twentieth century this was actually significantly more welcoming than some neighboring Episcopal churches, like Christ Church, South Amboy and Trinity, Woodbridge where Black Episcopalians were not welcome at all.[5]
But even this partial integration was inadequate for the Reverend Canon George Hogan Boyd, the priest who came to St. Peter’s in 1935 and faithfully served the parish for four decades.[6] Soon after his arrival Canon Boyd insisted on full integration. No longer would there be separate Black services, or separate Black seating. Under his leadership Black parishioners were treated as full members of the church.
Following this change Black parishioners were elected to the vestry.[7] Black aspirants to the priesthood like Carlton Hazell were sponsored for seminary education as early as the 1940s.[8] Members of the parish fondly remember Canon Boyd for buying skates for the Black children of the parish and taking them ice skating.[9] Parish photographs and promotional materials from the 1950s show full racial integration of the life of the church.[10]
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| Detail of church leaders of St. Peter's, Perth Amboy, 1958. From Executive Committee, St. Peter's Building Program, 6. Photo by Ernest Jones. MSS held at St. Peter's. Used with permission. |
But it was not all easy or simple. At the time that Canon Boyd insisted on full integration, a significant number of White parishioners left to join an all-White Episcopal church in Perth Amboy.[11] There is a story about St. Peter’s told by Father Rod Croes that the last excommunication allowed in the diocese occurred at St. Peter’s when a member of the lay leadership refused to cooperate with integration.[12]
But it was during this time in the nineteen-fifties, when I was a child, that my family joined St. Peter’s. My father had been raised Anglican on the island of Anguilla and had heard about how welcoming Canon Boyd was. And that welcome has been my experience at St. Peter’s.
Growing up in Perth Amboy, segregation was not obvious to me. It was only after I went away to college, and experienced overt racism, that I began to be able to see the subtle ways that Perth Amboy was still segregated and, at times, racist. But over time that began to change. Canon Boyd was part of that too. He was deeply involved in the community and successfully worked to integrate the YMCA and other organizations. Even when chapters of the Episcopal Youth Organization from other churches were not happy that our integrated chapter participated in diocesan events, he supported us and there was never anything from him but nurture. Because of his influence, he set the tone for equality and welcome at St. Peter’s.
Over the years my extended family has been involved both at St. Peter’s and at St. James AME church in Perth Amboy. The relationship between these two congregations has been an organic product of family connection and welcome. But even in spite of long years of relationship and support there have been challenges. When St. Peter’s called its first Black woman priest about fifteen years ago, the Rev. Dr. Anne-Marie Jaffrey, a few people left because they didn’t want a Black priest.[13] But those who remained have continued the tradition of welcome and equality.
Perth Amboy has changed a lot since the fifties and has become majority-Hispanic.[14] St. Peter’s has worked to adapt and welcome Hispanic families as well, including through Spanish language services starting under Father Rod and now with the help of Father Villalobos. I’ve served in leadership on the vestry and as warden since 2011. I’ve experienced racism in my professional life, often as the only Black employee at elite firms, and I’ve experienced racism at times in my community, but St. Peter’s has been a place where I have always felt welcome and equal. For the first time in our history we currently have Black parishioners serving as both Junior and Senior Warden. I’d like to think we keep the spirit of Thomas Mundy Peterson alive at St. Peter’s, insisting on the equal place of Black people both in our society and in the Episcopal Church.
[1] See Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, “Perth Amboy Ferry Slip: A Site of Memory,” DNJRJR (15 July 2024): https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/2024/07/perth-amboy-ferry-slip-site-of-memory.html.
[2] William C. McGinnis, History of St. Peter’s Church in Perth Amboy, New Jersey 1685-1956 (Woodbridge, NJ: Woodbridge Publishing Co., 1956), 71.
[3] According to the very hagiographic history of the parish, “St. Peter’s church schools even before the Revolution provided for the secular as well as the spiritual education of Negro children.” McGinnis, History of St. Peter’s Church in Perth Amboy, 71-72.
[4] See “Joint Resolution No. 1,” https://pub.njleg.gov/bills/9899/pl98/1001_.htm, and Office of the Mayor, “Perth Amboy Celebrates the 153rdThomas Mundy Peterson Day,” https://www.perthamboynj.org/community/news/what_s_new/celebrating_thomas_mundy_peterson_day.
[5] Interview with Louis E. Gumbs, Jr. and Lisa Nanton, March 10, 2026. Conducted by Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski.
[6] See the obituary “Canon George Boyd St. Peter’s rector” in The News Tribune, Woodbridge, NJ (July 29, 1983). MSS held at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Perth Amboy.
[7] See vestry minutes from across the 1950s. MSS held at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Perth Amboy.
[8] See, for example, Minutes from “St. Peter’s Special Vestry Meeting – June 20, 1950.” MSS held at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Perth Amboy.
[9] A story relayed by the long-serving rector Fr. Rod Croes, retold in Interview with Louis E. Gumbs, Jr. and Lisa Nanton, March 10, 2026.
[10] Executive Committee, St. Peter’s Building Program (Perth Amboy: Modern Printing Industries, 1958). MSS held at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Perth Amboy.
[11] According to the recollection of family members of Louis Gumbs, Jr, retold in Interview with Louis E. Gumbs, Jr. and Lisa Nanton, March 10, 2026.
[12] Shared viva voce at the Watchung Clericus, March 12, 2024, at Calvary Episcopal Church, Flemington, New Jersey.
[13] Interview with Louis E. Gumbs, Jr. and Lisa Nanton, March 10, 2026.
[14] The city is now over 83% Hispanic according to the United States Census Bureau, “2020 Decennial Census Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171),” published in 2021.
