EVENT: Diocesan Slavery History Pilgrimage Saturday, October 31, 2026 (11am) Perth Amboy

If you missed it before, you've got another chance! The Diocese of New Jersey Reparations Commission will offer its slavery history pilgrimage again on Saturday, October 31, 2026 beginning at 11am. The pilgrimage starts and ends in Perth Amboy and follows a liturgy of reflection and repentance through a circuit of sites of memory related to Anglican and Episcopal involvement in slavery. We will meet at 11am at the Perth Amboy Ferry Slip UNESCO slave trade marker (site #1) to begin the pilgrimage. We will eat lunch between sites #2 and #3 and will plan to arrive at site #3 (Marlpit Hall) at approximately 12:50pm. Email Dr. Jolyon Pruszinski (jolyonp@princeton.edu) to let us know you'll be participating or if you have any questions. The full pilgrimage guide is available as a PDF document online or in smartphone-friendly format and you can follow it yourself at any time. For the pilgrimage participants are responsible for their own travel to/from Perth Amboy but we may be able to travel more efficiently via carpool between pilgrimage sites.

The addresses for all of the sites are included in the pilgrimage guide but are also listed here.

Site #1: Perth Amboy UNESCO slave trade marker
300 Front Street; Perth Amboy, NJ

Site #2: Tinton Falls African Burial Ground

750 Tinton Ave.; Tinton Falls, NJ 07724

Site #3: Marlpit Hall Museum

137 Kings Hwy.; Middletown, NJ 07748

Site #4: Mount Mitchill Scenic Overlook

460 Ocean Blvd.; Atlantic Highlands, NJ

Site #5: Perth Amboy UNESCO slave trade marker (same as site #1)

300 Front Street; Perth Amboy, NJ

Please be aware that it is customary to make a small donation at the Marlpit Hall Museum to support the exhibit. Also, please plan to either bring a lunch, or to buy lunch at an establishment nearby the pilgrimage route. There are many lunch options available. We are looking forward to having you join us!

"Anglican Slavery in New Jersey" Reviewed in AEH Journal by Rev. Dr. Valerie Bailey

The first academic review of Anglican Slavery in New Jersey: An Initial Accounting (the first book produced as a result of the Diocese of New Jersey Racial Justice Review), was just published in the September issue of Anglican and Episcopal History Journal! To read the whole thing you need to become a member of the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church or you need to have access to JSTOR.ORG. But for if neither of those work for you, here are some of the highlights from the very generous review from Rev. Dr. Valerie Bailey of the Stevenson School of Ministry:

"Episcopal dioceses have been reflecting for almost twenty years about how the church may have been complicit in the slave trade and systemic racism. The Diocese of New Jersey invited a historian to the conversation. The result is a significant contribution to the history of the Episcopal Church. Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski’s recent book, Anglican Slavery in New Jersey, is a powerful example of the outcome of these conversations, especially those related to the General Convention 2006 Resolution A143 to examine and repent for complicity in slavery. Since then, dioceses have engaged in anti-racism work in the church, starting with the question of how the church was complicit in slavery. Pruszinski’s work continued a year-long reparations task force that became a commission, formed by Bishop William H. Stokes. Pruszinski has served as the historian of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey’s Reparations Commission since 2022. His work draws from primary sources that indicate the church was not only complicit but a participant in the development of New Jersey’s slave economy (xvii). This book is a compelling example of what dioceses can do to challenge racism by going beyond “thoughts and prayers” and engaging in historical research."

"The book contains many examples of church leaders who were enslavers and whose wealth helped build the Diocese of New Jersey. “This willingness to work with and benefit from slavery at the highest levels of leadership in the diocese also translated into lay comfort with the institution,” writes Pruszinski (36). The book concludes with an invitation for more narratives related to the church’s complicity in slavery, especially the narratives of church leaders as enslavers, and the laws that disenfranchised Blacks and relegated their stories into obscurity. The conversation about racism focuses on the severe harm caused by slavery and the need for reparations – acknowledgment of the harm done, financial, or both. Pruszinski’s book introduces the tools and practices that are at the heart of being a historian, grounding this work in the betterment of the church and enriching the study of its history."

Thank you Rev. Dr. Bailey for the positive feedback on the work we are doing here in New Jersey!

Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, Ph.D.

Reparations Commission Research Historian

Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey

Correspondence Following the Black Caucus Response to the Steinke Report, June-July 1997

Following the wide circulation of the Black Caucus response[1] to the Steinke Report[2] on Bishop Doss’ behavior during his episcopate, which included both accusations of racism and a recommitment to acting in love toward diocesan leadership accused of racism, the Caucus reported receiving a high volume of correspondence. On July 9, 1997 the Caucus wrote publicly to “Friends” regarding this correspondence and included in their letter a facsimile of a letter they had received from the Rev. Dean Henry of Christ Church, Middletown (sent on June 25, 1997), along with the response they had sent to him on July 2, 1997. It is likely that both the letter of July 9 and that of July 2 were authored by the Rev. Cn. Dr. Leroy Lyons of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Plainfield, New Jersey.

            No doubt the letter from the Rev. Henry is included because it provides an example of an embarrassingly poor response from a white priest supportive of Doss, and critical of the Black Caucus. Henry’s letter is short, and ostensibly polite, but clearly alleges that the Black Caucus includes many of those “who are not truly repentant” and who “frustrate the work of the Holy Spirit.” Henry also suggests that the members of the Black Caucus need to exhibit less “willfulness.” Incredibly, though praising the exegesis exhibited in the Black Caucus response to the Steinke Report, he shows such a lack of familiarity with the letter to Philemon that he misspells Onesimus’ name several times. The glaring issues with his missive do not go unanswered. 

            Writing for the Black Caucus, Lyons similarly strikes an ostensibly polite tone, but highlights Henry’s apparent lack of familiarity with the biblical text,[3] and disputes both Henry’s argument and his allegations of sinfulness. Lyons returns to Philemon to correct Henry and to insist that neither Onesimus nor the Black Caucus acted sinfully, or “rebelliously.” Lyons insists both on the commitment to agapē that the Black Caucus maintains, and the onus of responsibility on Bishop Doss to exhibit this quality himself.

The correspondence indicates both the degree of unexamined racism that existed in white priests in the diocese at the time, the readiness with which such priests supported a racist bishop and criticized those attempting to hold him accountable, and the lengths to which the Black Caucus went to try to educate their white Episcopalian colleagues. The correspondence[4] is provided in full below, courtesy of the Rev. Cn. Dr. Leroy Lyons. 

 

Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, Ph.D.
Reparations Commission Research Historian
Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey

---

[1] See “A Response to the Steinke Report From the Black Caucus, The Diocese of New Jersey,” June 14, 1997. MSS held at the private archive of the Rev. Cn. Dr. Leroy Lyons, Plainfield, New Jersey. See also Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, “The Black Caucus Responds to the Steinke Report on Shortcomings of Doss’ Episcopal, June 14, 1997,” DNJRJR (August 2, 2026): https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/2026/08/the-black-caucus-responds-to-steinke.html.

[2] A report from an outside consultant who investigated allegations of problematic behavior on the part of Bishop Doss, delivered to the diocese on May 16, 1997. See David M. Herszenhorn, “An Embattled Episcopal Bishop; His Ouster Is Sought by Leaders of the New Jersey Diocese,” New York Times (December 7, 1997): Section 1, page 45. See also Pruszinski, “The Black Caucus Responds to the Steinke Report on Shortcomings of Doss’ Episcopal, June 14, 1997.”

[3] A text on which Lyons wrote his doctoral dissertation.

[4] It includes a Letter from “The members of the Black Caucus” to “Friends,” July 9, `1997, which

appends the following letters: Letter from The Rev. Dean Henry to The Black Caucus, June 25, 1997; and Letter from “Members of the Black Caucus” to The Rev. Dean Henry, July 2, 1997. MSS held at the private archive of the Rev. Cn. Dr. Leroy Lyons, Plainfield, New Jersey.