VIDEO: "Truth, Reconciliation and Repair Act" NJISJ Press Conference, June 18, 2026

On Thursday June 18th the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice (NJISJ) hosted a press conference on the recently introduced "Truth, Reconciliation and Repair Act." Introduced as NJ S4459 in the Senate (A5253 in the Assembly), NJISJ reports that the bill commits New Jersey to "apologizing for slavery... accepting responsibility, and... committing to teaching the truth about slavery and Black History in our public schools and beyond." At the press conference (video here) sponsors Senator Angela McKnight and Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson explain the purpose and content of the bill. Other New Jersey leaders at the press conference calling for passage of the bill included Larry Ham (People's Organization fr Progress), Mayor Ras Baraka (Newark), Jean-Pierre Brutus (NJISJ), Henal Patel (NJISJ), Rev. Charles Boyer (Salvation and Social Justice, Greater Mt. Zion AME Church Trenton), and Cn. Annette Buchanan (NJ Faith Allies, Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey). If you would like to support the bill's passage NJISJ is gathering signatures.

New Article in AEH: "Despite the Declaration: White Episcopal Support for Slavery and Black Episcopal Resistance in Early Republic New Jersey"

Anglican and Episcopal History (AEH) Journal has just published a special issue on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the United States. Research from the Diocese of New Jersey Racial Justice Review appears in the issue in an article from Jolyon Pruszinski entitled "Despite the Declaration: White Episcopal Support for Slavery and Black Episcopal Resistance in Early Republic New Jersey." This is the introduction:

During the Revolutionary War, Anglicans in New Jersey were split on whether to remain loyal to the Crown, but after the war, both white and Black Episcopalians generally embraced the language of the Declaration of Independence with patriotic zeal. Where they split was over whether “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” should be the deserved possessions of “all men” or if the “all men” who were “created equal” were in fact “white” men only. Prominent Black Episcopalians, like Peter Williams, and John N. Still, treasured the language of liberty and equality in the Declaration as an inheritance of all Americans, and saw in it a vision of a just society in which slavery and racial discrimination had no place. However, white Episcopalians, in spite of their public acclamation of the Declaration, even in “northern” New Jersey typically chose to support slavery, buttress its effectiveness, and benefit from its operation. Black Episcopalians resisted white Episcopal support for slavery, and used both the Declaration and the Bible to denounce the institution as unjust. There is a long-standing precedent among Episcopal historians of emphasizing the noble behaviors of a few white Episcopalians while systematically de-emphasizing the overwhelmingly common and negative behaviors of the many. This article is oriented in opposition to that precedent.

For full article access is available through the AEH website with a (free for one year) membership in the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church (HSEC) or through JSTOR.ORG. 

EVENT: Virtual Press Conference Introducing the New Jersey "Truth, Reconciliation and Repair Act," 5pm June 18, 2026

Passing along BIG NEWS from the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice (NJISJ)! 

This Thursday, 6/18 they will be hosting a Virtual Press Conference to introduce the Truth, Reconciliation & Repair Act. 

This legislation will:

✅ ensure New Jersey apologizes for slavery and accepts responsibility

✅ teach the Truth about slavery and Black history in our public schools

New Jersey must teach, confront and take responsibility for our past so we can finally repair the lasting harm slavery and generations of systemic racism that followed. The Truth, Reconciliation and Repair Act is a big step toward getting us there!

Join the virtual press conference at 5 p.m. EST & be part of the journey towards reparations in New Jersey.

🔗Register: bit.ly/TRRACT

(And the press conference will feature statements from many important leaders in New Jersey, including Cn. Annette Buchanan of the Diocese of New Jersey Reparations Commission!)

EVENT: Truth & Repair: A Juneteenth Reparations Convening (Sponsored by NJISJ)

This Friday, 6/19/26 from 8:30am - 4:15pm (Juneteenth) the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice (NJISJ) invites you to "Truth & Repair: A Juneteenth Reparations Convening" at St. John's Community Baptist Church in Newark (1066 Bergen St, Newark, NJ 07112).

Don’t miss out on this inspiring day of thought-provoking panel discussions and interactive workshops exploring how reparative policies can help build a more equitable future!

🚌Free shuttle service is available from Newark Penn Station.

🔗Register: https://njisj.org/juneteenth/

See below for the full program!

EVENT: Juneteenth Observance at St. Peter's, Perth Amboy, 6:30pm June 18, 2026

Community Event | Evento Comunitario

St. Peter's Episcopal Church invites residents to attend a Juneteenth Requiem Mass on Thursday, June 18 at 6:30 PM.

Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States and honors the resilience, contributions, and history of Black Americans.

The evening will feature guest speaker Dr. Jolyon G.R. Pruszinski, Princeton professor and author of Anglican Slavery in New Jersey: An Initial Accounting, along with music by Simon Mulligan, Jackie Mulligan, and St. Peter's Choir.

📍 St. Peter's Episcopal Church

188 Rector Street, Perth Amboy

All are welcome to attend this community observance.

For more information, visit: www.StPetersEpiscopal.com

*************************

La Iglesia Episcopal St. Peter's invita a la comunidad a participar en una Misa Réquiem de Juneteenth el 18 de junio a las 6:30 p.m.

Juneteenth conmemora el fin de la esclavitud en los Estados Unidos y rinde homenaje a la historia, los logros y las contribuciones de las comunidades afroamericanas.

La ceremonia contará con la participación especial del Dr. Jolyon G.R. Pruszinski, profesor de la Universidad de Princeton y autor de Anglican Slavery in New Jersey: An Initial Accounting, así como con música de Simon y Jackie Mulligan y el Coro de St. Peter's.

📍 Iglesia Episcopal St. Peter's

188 Rector Street, Perth Amboy

Toda la comunidad está invitada a participar.

Para más información, visite: www.StPetersEpiscopal.com

The Cost of a Century of Racism to Historically Black Churches in the Diocese of New Jersey: Approximately $100 Million

Charting the New Jersey racial wealth gap in the NJISJ Study.

We have written previously about the persistent racial wealth gap in New Jersey between White households and Black households (a gap which remains at a discrepancy of approximately 20:1) and the effect this gap has on historically Black churches in the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey. But if discussions of adequate reparations are going to be well informed, this phenomenon requires more explicit explanation. The short version is that White Episcopal racism in the Diocese of New Jersey has cost the Black Episcopalians of the historically Black churches (HBCs) of the diocese, at a minimum, an estimated $100 million over the past century. 

In most discussions of the financial harm done and the scale of reparations required, it does not appear that the true scope of this harm is fully understood, even among members of the HBCs. This means that harm is regularly underreported and under appreciated, both in and beyond the affected HBCs, and that deliberations regarding funding reparative justice initiatives are likely to produce inappropriately low targets for funding (such as the current deliberations of the recently formed board for the diocesan reparative justice trust). Allow me to explain the details.

There is a well-documented history of highly generous, self-sacrificial giving in Black church communities. The rate of giving relative to income is, generally speaking, far higher than in the White churches of our diocese. Unfortunately, this is a virtue born of harm. Because of the racial wealth gap, Black Episcopalians have had to devote a dramatically higher percentage of their wealth and income to church giving in order to have functioning Black churches than White people have had to devote to church giving in order to have functioning White churches.

The fact is that the HBCs in our diocese exist because of White racism. They were founded because of well-known, and well-documented White racism. They have continued to provide a space for the (comparatively) free exercise of faith and leadership for Black Episcopalians in our diocese that is necessary due to the persistence of White racism. 

It is also a fact that churches cost a certain amount to run. For the sake of simplicity, let's say the bare bones number in 2026 dollars to run a congregation per year is $100,000. Anyone who is familiar with church budgets will know that this is stretching what is possible with a full-time rector, but we will assume $100k for the sake of argument. Now let's say, again for the sake of simplicity, that we are just looking at a 100-year period, mostly in the 20th century, during which HBCs have operated. And, again, for the sake of simplicity, let us assume that there have been, on average, about ten HBCs operating at any given time in the diocese during that period. Some HBCs have operated longer than that. There have been periods with more HBCs than ten, but for the sake of simplicity of calculation we will keep the numbers low and round. We are looking at 10 HBCs over 100 years at $100,000 dollars a year for a minimum cost to operate of $100 million in 2026 dollars. Let us acknowledge, again, that this is a low estimate.

Now consider that the racial wealth gap in New Jersey is currently 20:1. It used to be significantly worse, but for the sake of simplicity let's say that during that whole period it has been 20:1. HBCs have had to exist because of White Episcopal racism, and have only managed to exist because of the sacrificial giving of Black Episcopalians. The result of this fact is that in order to function, Black Episcopalians have had to be generous with respect to their household wealth at approximately a 20:1 rate compared to White Episcopalians in order to have functioning churches. Black Episcopalians have had to give at an enormously higher rate than White Episcopalians have, just to make sure to have church communities of their own that are less subject to White racism than they would be subjected to at "integrated" churches (and in further evidence of this racism, the diocese has regularly attempted to liquidate Black churches and force integration, even while knowing this will subject Black Episcopalians to greater racism).

Fairness would suggest that because White racism has necessitated the existence of HBCs, and because the cost to run a church is what it is irrespective of race, and because Black Episcopalians have had to pay that cost to ensure the functioning of their HBCs, that Black Episcopalian household wealth has taken close to a $100 million hit over the past 100 years due exclusively to white Episcopal racism. Almost the entire amount required to run functioning HBCs over the past century has come from Black giving at a dramatically higher percentage of income and wealth than the rate required among White parishioners of White Churches (in a reversal of the same ratio as the wealth gap). If White racism did not require the existence of HBCs, Black Episcopalians could be free to give at the same wealth-rate as White people to maintain jointly attended churches. But White Episcopal racism operating in tandem with the New Jersey racial wealth gap (a separate product of White racism) has essentially robbed individual Black Episcopalians of an estimated $95 million out of an approximate $100 million cost to operate over the past century (and don't forget, this is already a very conservative estimate). And this does not address reparative justice for slavery or other kinds of racism, either to Black Episcopalians or to Black New Jerseyans generally. We are just talking about the direct financial effect of White racism on Black Episcopal household wealth due to the necessity of having HBCs in the Diocese of New Jersey.

The scale and scope of this harm is not generally appreciated. Yes, in recent history, the diocese has dedicated some money to HBCs, but it has been entirely of the wrong order of magnitude and has not meaningfully addressed the underlying harmful patterns. Meaningfully addressing the pattern of harm would mean stopping the yearly drain on Black wealth that comes from the persistence of White racism. For many reasons (but among them the fact that White racism is still clearly operative) HBCs are a necessary feature of our diocesan life. This is not debatable. But stopping the constant drain on Black wealth that occurs as a result of primarily parish-level funding requires de-siloing funding. According to the simplified calculations used here, it would require approximately $1 million a year to stabilize HBC finances in the diocese. In terms of future orientation, this figure should be viewed as the bare-minimum, no-strings, yearly disbursement to HBCs from the diocese as part of any reparative justice measure which aims to address adequately the underlying systemic inequity. 

This kind of coverage of 95% of baseline operating costs of HBCs by the White churches in the diocese should occur until there is meaningful change to the racial wealth gap in New Jersey. But it should NOT be viewed as a step which would preclude a larger separate disbursement addressing these and other past harms. This proposed measure is just to stop the bleeding. Other measures should address the accumulated negative effects of other past harms.

Yes, this is a lot of money. But consider that it is an amount of money that Black Episcopalians have been unfairly required to pay for over 100 years just to avoid White racism. It is past time that the White Episcopalians of the Diocese of New Jersey recognize that their wealth is the product of slavery and racism, that it has been accumulated at the expense of Black New Jerseyans, that White Episcopal racism specifically has had a dramatic negative effect on Black Episcopal wealth in the Diocese of New Jersey, and that, as a result, a very great debt is owed.

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

Juneteenth is Coming Up. What is Juneteenth? How Can We Honor it?

Image courtesy St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church, Elizabeth

What is Juneteenth?[1] Juneteenth, also known as “Emancipation Day” or “Freedom Day,” holds tremendous significance in American history. On June 19, 1865, enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas were finally informed of their freedom, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued, having been shielded from this knowledge until late in the Civil War. But from the day of the coming of that good news, the occasion of its announcement was celebrated, first by local Black churches in Texas, and then, as time went on, throughout the nation, until Juneteenth was formally recognized as a federal holiday in 2021.

Slavery in all the states would not end (except as a punishment for a crime) until the 13th Amendment of the Constitution was ratified on December 6, 1865. New Jersey itself refused to pass the 13th amendment when it was first proposed, and was the last northern state to ratify it. Moreover, the ideals of this nation –particularly as described in the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution– have never been fully realized for many.

Observance of Juneteenth invites all Americans to acknowledge and tell the truth about our history, a history which is too often “white-washed,” sanitized and mythologized. Juneteenth not only honors the resilience and triumph of African Americans in their pursuit of freedom, but should stir us all to work diligently for an America that fulfills its highest ideals, not just for some, but for all its people.

How can we honor Juneteenth? The occasion of Juneteenth invites reflection and remembrance of the countless lives impacted by the institution of slavery and the ongoing injustices of racism. By acknowledging this painful history we honor the memory of those harmed, we seek deeper understanding, we commit to preventing the recurrence of the evils of the past, we commit to mending the evils of the present, and we seek a more just, inclusive, and equitable future. This observance necessarily involves recognizing the historical injustices committed against Black communities, and seeking their healing through the repair of those injustices (reparation).

We welcome everyone in the Diocese of New Jersey to participate in Juneteenth events and to embed Juneteenth observance, reflection, and repair into your liturgical observance. Such observances help us as faithful Christians and Episcopalians to “seek and serve Christ in all persons loving our neighbor as ourselves,” to “strive for justice and peace among all people,” and to “respect the dignity of every human being.” In public prayers center both those who waited so long for a word of freedom, and those who still wait for justice delayed.

[1] Text is drawn from W. Stokes, “Juneteenth Observances,” (June 2023), and W. Stokes “Celebrating Juneteenth: Honoring Freedom and Commemorating History,” (June 2023), edited by Jolyon Pruszinski. 

EVENT: Diocese of New Jersey Reparations Commission Slavery History Pilgrimage: Two Upcoming Opportunities (June 6 or July 18)

 

The Diocese of New Jersey Reparations Commission will offer its slavery history pilgrimage on two dates in the coming months: June 6 and July 18. 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 to begin the pilgrimage. Email Rev. Beth Rauen Sciaino (priest@stbernardsnj.org) or 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 ONLINE and you can follow it yourself at any time.

Foreword by Elaine Pagels to "Anglican Slavery in New Jersey"

Jolyon Pruszinski and Elaine Pagels at Princeton University, May 16, 2024 (Photo by Molly Schneider)

 Those of us who are White Christians like to think that we stand for justice, for human equality, compassion, and kindness; certainly we oppose slavery and racism. That is why we owe a great debt to Jolyon Pruszinski for offering us this initial investigation of the history of slavery in the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey.

    At the start, he acknowledges his own previous ignorance of this history, an ignorance shared by most of us who have not personally been targets of racism. Those who grew up in public schools like mine, in the California town of Palo Alto, learned in history class that long ago in the past, Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves; now we could proudly endorse the “liberty and justice for all” that our Pledge of Allegiance celebrates. Never mentioned in our history class, however, was what preceded that event: two hundred and fifty years of horrific human trafficking in chattel slavery that helped build and enrich the towns and institutions familiar to us, most of them entirely dominated by White people like ourselves. The history we learned gave only a passing mention to the political struggle to maintain slavery and the horrors of the Civil War. Instead, at the time, our complacency seemed natural—almost our birthright. There was also East Palo Alto, where Cornel West, who later would become my colleague at Princeton, grew up, but I knew little of that, since most Black students were funneled into other school districts.

    But since the 1960s and 1970s, when intense conflict over issues of race increasingly broke into the open, some educators have brought much more of that hidden history to light, while others, to this day, are fighting hard to suppress it. Only more recently have Christians of many denominations begun to acknowledge, much less to reckon with, their part in this tangled and contested history.

    So I deeply appreciate the great service Jolyon Pruszinski has done for members of the Episcopal Church in New Jersey, and especially to members of Trinity Church, Princeton. In this current report, he shows the results of having investigated how, and in what ways, members of the Episcopal Church in New Jersey have engaged slavery and racism, from the first founding of Anglican churches in colonial times to the outbreak of the Civil War. His work is also ongoing, as he now intends to document what has happened from that time to the present.

    The report now before us, more than a history, comes as a manifesto. Pruszinski challenges us to stop avoiding painful truths, and to find freedom instead in acknowledging them, recognizing that the Episcopal churches in which we participate have reaped enormous benefits in wealth and influence from centuries of practicing slavery, segregation, and racism, often armed with scriptural justification. The facts he documents here challenge us not only to recognize what happened, but also to begin the process of repairing the harm in every way we can.

    Pruszinski ends with a call for each one of us to rediscover one another, echoing the prophet Micah’s call to “do justice; love mercy, and walk humbly with your God”—and with your neighbor, and mine.

Elaine Pagels
Professor of History of Religion, Princeton University

(From the Foreword (pp. xi-xii) to Anglican Slavery in New Jersey: An Initial Accounting (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2025), by Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski.)

VIDEO: REPARATIONS: A STATUS REPORT - FRONTIERS INT. PANEL APRIL 25, 2026

The Plainfield, New Jersey chapter of Frontiers International, one of the oldest Black service organizations in the United States, recently hosted a panel discussion on the state of reparations in New Jersey. The panel featured Dr. Jean-Pierre Brutus of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice and New Jersey Reparations Council, the renowned organizer Lawrence Hamm, sociologist and congressional candidate Dr. Akil Khalfani, and Diocese of New Jersey Reparations Commission historian Dr. Jolyon Pruszinski. Frontiers has posted the video recording of the panel on their Youtube channel. Many thanks for the invite!

VIDEO: DIOCESE OF NEW JERSEY RESEARCH AT AHA WITH HSEC

The most recent newsletter from the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church (HSEC), The Clearinghouse, highlights research from the Diocese of New Jersey, with video! As part of a panel on reparations research and initiatives in the Episcopal Church organized by HSEC, the Diocesan Reparations Commission historian, Dr. Jolyon Pruszinski, presented on his recent research and the reparations initiatives in the Diocese of New Jersey at the American Historical Association (AHA) national conference in Chicago on January 10, 2026. The HSEC writes: "Watch a timely and important panel discussion, Anglican Slavery in New Jersey: Reparations Work in the Diocese of New Jersey and the Episcopal Church, available on the Historical Society’s YouTube Channel. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association in January 2026, this session brings together leading scholars and church historians to examine the complex legacy of Anglican involvement in slavery and the ongoing work of reparations within the Episcopal Church. Through thoughtful conversation, the panel explores how historical research is uncovering long-overlooked connections between Anglican institutions and slavery in New Jersey—and how this work is shaping efforts toward truth-telling, reconciliation, and repair today. Featuring: The Rev. Dr. Valerie Bailey (Moderator), Dr. Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski (Princeton University), The Rev. Dr. Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook (Historiographer of the Episcopal Church). The discussion highlights the vital role of archival research, institutional accountability, and theological reflection in advancing meaningful reparations initiatives." Many thanks to Matthew Payne of the HSEC for producing the video of the event, and to Drs. Bailey and Kujawa-Holbrook for the invite!

NEWS: "New York Diocese Outlines Plan for $1.2M Racial Reparations Fund" (RNS)

Reporter Fiona André of the Religion News Service (RNS) just published an article outlining recent developments in the Diocese of New York reparations initiative. The article is subtitled: "New York Episcopalians profited from the transatlantic slave trade and were ‘uniquely implicated in the odious institution and in anti-Black policies and practices that extend through generations,’ according to a new report." She writes:

The Episcopal Diocese of New York has launched the second phase of its racial reparations efforts, releasing a new report detailing how it plans to invest the nearly $1.2 million the diocesan convention began committing to the effort in 2019. The document, drafted by the diocese’s racial reparations commission and released publicly on March 17, describes a three-fold reparations process that is focused on: educating congregations about the diocese’s racist history; investing in Black communities in and outside of the Church; and pursuing reparations through a spiritual lens. It also makes recommendations on ways to sustain the reparations fund in the long term. “The report begins the next chapter of this work in a deepening of our commitment,” the Rt. Rev. Matthew F. Heyd, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, told RNS. “Our intention/commitment is to weave the recommendations of the report into the fabric of the diocese and into the whole of our ministries.”

For more information read the full article HERE.

NEWS: STATIONS OF REPARATIONS HONOR BLACK CHURCH HISTORY

"Eugenia Wilson sings during the Stations of Reparations service
held at St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church in Elizabeth, New Jersey."
Photo by Peter Tobia, courtesy Faith & Leadership.

Annette John-Hall, of Duke Divinity School's Faith & Leadership Journal, just published an article on the most recent Diocese of New Jersey Reparations Commission's Stations of Reparations Service which was held on March 21, 2026 at St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church, Elizabeth, New Jersey. In the article, titled "Stations of Reparations honor Black church history" she writes: "The Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey pauses annually during Lent to reflect on the effect of systemic racism on its Black parishes. Along with acknowledging its own history, the diocese has worked for reparations at the state level with religious and secular organizations." To read more about the service, the historical research that goes into it, and the reparative justice initiatives that the Commission has been engaged in read the article for free HERE.

St. Peter's, Perth Amboy: Stations of Reparations Address, March 21, 2026

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

 

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]

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 153^rdThomas 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.

NEWS: "Southern Ohio is Latest Diocese to Commit Financial Resources to Racial Reparations Program" (ENS)

 The Episcopal New Service (ENS) recently published an article detailing the recent actions of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio on the subject of reparations. They report:

The Diocese of Southern Ohio has committed $500,000 as initial funding of a racial reparations program that parallels similar efforts in other dioceses, as The Episcopal Church continues to reckon with its historic complicity with white supremacy and racist systems. Southern Ohio Bishop Kristin Uffelman White announced her diocese’s reparations funding in a Feb. 23 news release, which explained money from a diocesan endowment fund would be used to support four historically Black congregations: St. Philip Episcopal Church in Columbus; St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Trotwood, near Dayton; St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Cincinnati’s Evanston neighborhood; and St. Simon of Cyrene Episcopal Church in Lincoln Heights, near Cincinnati. “This action does not indicate the completion of this work, nor the end of anticipated restitution of financial resources,” White said in the news release. “Rather, it marks an important first step in an ongoing process and demonstrates a meaningful financial commitment to reinvest in the vitality and self-determination of our Black leadership and communities.”

For more information read the full ENS article HERE.

EVENT: Author-led Book Group on "Anglican Slavery in New Jersey"

UPDATE: The book group is over, but if you would like to run one for your church or organization, want ideas for questions / structure, a bulk discount on books, or to invite the author for a guest appearance CONTACT US!

The Reparations Commission of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey invites you to a free, author-led, Zoom book group on the recently released Anglican Slavery in New Jersey: An Initial Accounting with author Jolyon Pruszinski. Jolyon is a lecturer in the Departments of Religion and History at Princeton University and the research historian for the Reparations Commission. All are welcome (no need to be Episcopalian or from New Jersey). The book group will run on Thursday nights at 7-8pm (ET) from April 16 to May 21, 2026. To pre-register (required to receive the Zoom link) CLICK HERE. The pre-reading for the week 1 discussion is available online through google books. Full digital copies of the book are available for $9.99 on Amazon. Discounted print copies (50% off) will be available in-person at the March 21, 2026 Stations of Reparations Service at St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church, Elizabeth, New Jersey; or you can receive a publisher's coupon code for 40% off when you sign up for the publisher's digital newsletter. 

In order to make for the best possible discussions, if you are able please read the following sections in advance (page numbers are for the print version):

for April 16... pages xi-xxxii (front matter),

for April 23... pages 3-39 (chapters 1-6),

for May 7... pages 41-73 (chapters 7-10),

for May 14... pages 77-119 (chapters 11-13),

for May 21... pages 123-145 (chapter 14 & epilogue.

We hope you'll be able to attend!

DAILY BLACK HISTORY MONTH POSTS - LIST

"Black History Month Design" by Marina Shemesh (License: CC0 Public Domain)

This year for Black History Month we posted every day on the DNJRJR Facebook page about Black history in the Diocese of New Jersey. We want this to be available as a resource for the future so here are the posts in order:

1) REV. PETER WILLIAMS (1786-1840): SECOND ORDAINED AFRICAN AMERICAN PRIEST IN THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

2) REV. JAMES C. WARD (1777-1834): FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN CLERGYMAN IN THE DIOCESE OF NEW JERSEY

3) THE EPISCOPAL MISSION AT THE FREE BLACK SETTLEMENT OF MACEDONIA, NEW JERSEY (1853-1887)

4) JOHN N. STILL (1815-?): FIRST BLACK CANDIDATE FOR HOLY ORDERS IN THE DIOCESE OF NEW JERSEY

5) JOHN STILL'S CALL TO RESIST THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT

6) A HISTORY OF TRINITY AND ST. PHILIP'S CATHEDRAL

7) THE EARLIEST BLACK CHURCH LEADERSHIP IN THE DIOCESE OF NEW JERSEY

8) TINTON FALLS AFRICAN BURIAL GROUND: A SITE OF MEMORY

9) THE ENSLAVED IN THE PARISH REGISTER AT CHRIST CHURCH SHREWSBURY

10) THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD AND EARLY BLACK ESTRANGEMENT FROM THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

11) EMANCIPATED AFRICAN AMERICANS LEAVING THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH: A CASE STUDY FROM MIDDLETOWN, NJ

12) SOURLAND AFRICAN AMERICANS WHO LEFT THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

13) SUPPORT FOR THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY IN THE DIOCESE OF NEW JERSEY

14) EARLY AFRICAN MISSION GIVING (FOREIGN) IN THE DIOCESE OF NEW JERSEY (1835-1865)

15) BISHOP DOANE'S 1854 REPARATIONS MANDATE

16) THE FREEDMAN'S COMMISSION AND THE DIOCESE OF NEW JERSEY

17) "HOME MISSIONS TO COLORED PEOPLE" AND THE DIOCESE OF NEW JERSEY (1877-1900)

18) BISHOP SCARBOROUGH'S CONVENTION ADDRESS OF 1890

19) THOMAS AND CARRIE FORTUNE OF ST. THOMAS', RED BANK

20) REV. EUGENE L. HENDERSON: FIRST BLACK PRIEST ORDAINED IN THE DIOCESE OF NEW JERSEY

21) REV. EARL B. SCOTT (1919-1984): UBE NAMESAKE

22) INTERVIEW WITH MS. KATHLEEN MONTGOMERY EDWARDS (1924-2000)

23) THE VERY REV. CN. DR. SANDYE A. WILSON (EULOGY)

24) INTERVIEW WITH MS. NATALIECE MOORE (ST. AUGUSTINE'S, CAMDEN)

25) ST. AUGUSTINE'S ASBURY PARK

26) BLACK CLERGY AND DELAGATES VISION STATEMENT (1996)

27) "REPARATION: MY TAKE" - CN. NOREEN DUNCAN

28) REPARATIONS COUNCIL REPORT (2025)

Why do Churches do Memory Work?

Emily S. Pruszinski, Executive Director, Fellowship for Protestant Ethics
(the author)

Too often throughout history leaders and members of the church have provided theological cover for injustices both small and great in scale. Too often the church has reaped the benefits of injustice instead of refusing to receive ill-gotten gain, or denounce those who exploited their fellow human beings. Too often members of the church, out of greed and a lust to dominate, have actively participated in perpetrating injustice, all while remaining “in good standing” within their local church bodies. Too often the church actively promotes a culture of forgetfulness, in which the details of these stories are quickly and conveniently forgotten. In each case, the victims of injustice are ignored, their cries unheard or silenced, their stories buried or erased (the Diocese of New Jersey Racial Justice Review has chronicled many such examples). But Christians have many good reasons to remember wrongs, and to work to make them right.

The opportunity and, dare I say, requirement to remember our past is integral to our liturgy. Throughout Christian liturgy we remember the past for its importance for the present. And in so doing, we remember, not just the life of Jesus, but our own past as well. This latter memory is most obvious during the general confession.[1] Confession requires memory of past wrongdoing, both recent and distant. And the text of the confession does not use I language, but WE language. We confess our sins against God and neighbor. We confess that we have done wrong and not done right. And this “we” language matters for how we understand memory.

As Christians we are part of a global church, and as Episcopalians we are part of the global Anglican communion. Each time we gather for corporate prayer and worship, and each time we celebrate the Eucharist, we gather not just with a single living congregation, but with all the simultaneously living members of the global church, and the dead members of both our particular church and our larger communion.[2]

Our present church community exists in continuity with those who have gone before us. Our group – the Church – includes its dead members spiritually, in prayer and in memory,[3] and physically, in the ways that our church architecture includes burial grounds, columbaria, memorial gardens, and plaques. We have integrated the memory of our church founders and former esteemed members into our buildings, and though at times we may forget, we are the spiritual descendants of these, now silent, but still present members of our communion. These are our religious ancestors. We may not be related to them genetically, but we are related to them through our common participation in a particular church, in a particular location, over time. By participating in, and being confirmed in, the Church we become inheritors of their legacies. 

Our liturgy reminds us in countless ways that we are in communion with members of the faith both living and dead. But speaking particularly, using WE language in our corporate confession of sin specifically includes not only the people we see in church each Sunday, but also the people who sat in our pews fifty, one hundred, even two-hundred years ago. When we, the living, confess and ask for forgiveness, we do so on behalf of the dead as well.[4]  

But there’s more. Through liturgical acts of confession and repentance we express our desire to walk in God’s ways,[5] to treat our neighbors in ways that would delight God, and to be God’s hands and feet on this earth. Our confession comes packaged with responsibility to do right by our neighbors here and now.[6] This entails fixing the harms of the past that continue to affect our neighbors in the present. 

How can we do what is necessary to repair the harms of the past, if we forget those harms? If we forget who the victims were (and are)? The short answer is “We can’t.” Such ill-informed efforts will be misdirected and inadequate. Or worse, we will not even see how or why we should exert effort to make repairs in the first place. 

This, in short, is the reason churches should, and do, engage in memory work. Widespread poverty, racial injustice, job and housing insecurity, chronic illness from exposure to environmentally harbored toxins, lack of access to healthcare resources, and violent police tactics are all indicators of a broken system. Our religious ancestors either actively created the injustices themselves, created the conditions for these present injustices to become possible, or suffered under similar conditions. Knowing the details enables informed and effective responses.

In Germany, generations born after World War II have had to work to uncover the evils done by their ancestors, many of which were deliberately hidden. This became known as the “dig where you stand,” movement,[7] and has been oriented around documenting what can be found about the past in an effort to work for a more just world. As Episcopalians[8] we too have inherited a legacy of injustices where we now worship, even when we don’t know it. For us to “dig where we stand” involves first examining how our religious ancestors perpetrated, and cooperated with harm. Then it involves allowing those memories to guide us as we discern how to take responsibility for reparative justice in our present. If we are to repent effectively for the wrongs we are implicated in, wrongs which continue to cause injustice today, we have to know what those wrongs have been so that we can take appropriate steps to remedy them.

 

Emily S. Pruszinski

Executive Director, Fellowship for Protestant Ethics

Doctoral Candidate in Theology, Ethics, and Politics

Princeton Theological Seminary

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[1] E.g. from Holy Eucharist I (BCP 331): “We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we from time to time most grievously have committed, provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us. We do earnestly repent, and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings; the remembrance of them is grievous unto us, the burden of them is intolerable…. Forgive us all that is past…” Or “We confess that we have sinned against thee in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved thee with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.” Emphasis added. In all this language the past tense is conspicuous. In Episcopal worship accurate memory of the past is critical to confession and repentance. One could argue that liturgically emphasized memories of Jesus are meant to provide a counterpoint to our memories of the ways we have fallen short of his life, teachings, and ideals.

[2] The Prayers of the People set us in direct relation to, and community with the dead. See, for instance, “The Prayers of the People,” in Holy Eucharist I (Book of Common Prayer [henceforth, BCP], 328-330).

[3] E.g. from Holy Eucharist I (BCP, 330): “And we also bless thy holy Name for all thy servants departed this life in thy faith and fear… beseeching thee to grant them continual growth in thy love and service; and to grant us grace so to follow the good examples of… all thy saints, that with them we may be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom.” Emphasis added.

[4] And in some liturgies we acknowledge explicitly that they have done harm of which we are the beneficiaries when we repent of “both the evils we have done, and the evil done on our behalf.” The Church Pension Fund, “Confession,” in Enriching Our Worship 1 (New York: Church Publishing, 1998), 19.

[5] E.g. BCP, 331.

[6] John the Baptist’s proclamation “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matt 3:8; Luke 3:8), and Paul’s “do deeds consistent with repentance” (Acts 26:20) are relevant here.

[7] Reinhard Bernbeck and Susan Pollock, “‘Grabe, Wo Du Stehst!’ An Archaeology of Perpetrators,” in Archaeology and Capitalism: From Ethics to Politics, edited by Yannis Hamilakis and Philip Duke (New York: Routledge, 2016), 217-233.

[8] Though the same pattern holds for all Christians and, indeed, all people of good will.