The Reparations Commission of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey invites you to join us for our next webinar in our Journey Toward Reparation on Tuesday, May 27, 2025 from 7:00-8:00pm over Zoom. Our guest speaker is the Rev. Shaneequa Brokenleg, the Staff Officer for Racial Reconciliation of the Episcopal Church. CLICK HERE to register for the webinar.
All Parochial Giving (1866-1878) to the Freedman’s Commission (also known as the “Home Missions to Colored People”) in the Diocese of New Jersey.
After the Civil War the General Convention of the Episcopal Church formed a new entity to be called the “Freedman’s Commission” to aid in the education of newly emancipated Black people in the South. Below is listed the raw data for the churches in the Diocese of New Jersey that gave to these domestic “Missions” between 1866 and 1878. The Freedman’s Commission was founded in 1865, then renamed the “Home Mission to Colored People” in 1868, and then folded into the Board of Missions in 1878. This data is culled from the annual parochial reports published in diocesan convention journals during that time period. You will find it far easier to search through this culled material than to search through the publicly available digital scans of diocesan journals directly. Perusing this data will allow you to follow leads from the diocesan journal reporting data more efficiently. Though the racial nomenclature employed in the original documentation is no longer acceptable in modern usage, the original wording of the text is preserved here for the sake of historical accuracy.
1866 Convention Journal[1]
Christ Church, Allentown “Two barrels of clothing… to the… Freedmen’s Commission.”
1867 Convention Journal[2]
St. Mary’s, Burlington to “Freedman’s Commission, $62.96”
Christ Church, Bloomfield to “Freedman’s Commission, $14.50”
St. John’s Church, Boonton to “Freedman’s Commission, $20”
Grace Church, Haddonfield to “Freedman’s Commission, $10”
Trinity Church, Moorestown to “Freedman’s Commission, $13.78”
St. Peter’s, Morristown to “P.E. Freedman’s Com., $42”
Church of the Redeemer, Morristown to “Freedman’s Commission, $16.91”
Christ Church, Newton to “Freedman’s Commission, $37.17”
Christ Church Mission, Waterford to “Freedman’s Commission, $3.80”
1868 Convention Journal[3]
Christ Church, Belleville to “Freedmen’s Commission, $7”
Christ Church, Bloomfield to “Freedman’s Com. Of the P. E. Church, $20.85”
Christ Church, Elizabeth to “Freedman’s Commission, $37.30”
St. Paul’s, Englewood to “Freedman’s Commission, $35”
St. Matthew’s, Jersey City to NC normal school for “colored” children $41.85
Trinity, Moorestown to “Freedmen’s Mission, $10.06”
St. Peter’s, Morristown to “Prot. Epis. Freedmen’s Commission, $50.75”
Church of the Redeemer, Morristown to “Freedmen’s Commission, $18.50”
St. Andrew’s, Mount Holly to “Freedmen’s Commis., $15.35”
Trinity, Mount Holly to “P. E. Freedmen’s Commiss., $20.38”
St. John’s, Passaic to “Aid of Freedmen, $13.37”
Holy Communion, S. Orange to “Freedmen’s Commission, $13.50”
Trinity, Swedesboro to “Freedmen’s Commission, $39.50”
St. Michael’s, Trenton to “Freedmen’s Commission of P.E. Church, $106.50”
1869 Convention Journal[4]
St. Mary’s, Burlington to home missions “among colored people” $41.50
Trinity, Bayonne to home “missions to colored people of P. E. Ch., $40”
St. Paul’s, Englewood to “Home missions to colored people, $30.85”
Trinity, Moorestown to “Freedmen’s Mission, $8.04”
St. Peter’s, Morristown to “home missions for colored people, $37”
Grace, Newark to “Freedmen’s Commission, $26.04”
Trinity, Newark to “Church General Board of Missions for colored people of the South, $237.85”
St. John the Evangelist, New Brunswick to “Freedmen’s Commission, $12.61”
Grace, Orange to “home missions for colored people, $159.18”
St. Paul’s, Paterson to “P.E. Freedmen’s Mission, $40”
St. John’s, Salem to “Freedmen’s Commission, $51.77”
Trinity, Swedesboro to “P.E. Freedmen’s Com., $24.19”
1870 Convention Journal[5]
St. Mary’s, Burlington to “home mission among colored people, $38.81”
St. Peter’s, Freehold to “home for Colored people, $5” [6]
Trinity, Hoboken to “Home missions to colored people, $17”
St. Peter’s, Morristown to “home miss. To colored people, $31”
St. Philip’s, Newark to Domestic “colored miss., Petersburg, VA., $6.77”
Trinity, Newark to “Freedmen, $80.40”
Christ Church, Ridgewood: “Easter offerings for home missions to colored people, $25”
Trinity, Swedesboro to “P.E. Freedman’s Com., $13.87”
St. Michael’s, Trenton to “home mission to colored people, $26.96”
St. John’s Church, Woodside to “Freedmen, $3”
1871 Convention Journal[7]
St. Mary’s, Burlington to “Colored People, (in the South,) $27.42”
Trinity, Bayonne to “Colored people, (in the South,) $40”
Christ Church, Bloomfield to “Colored People, (in the South,) $14.33”
St. Paul’s, Camden to “Colored People, (in the South,) $20”
St. John’s, Elizabeth to “Colored People, (in the South,) $200”
Trinity, Hoboken to “Colored people, (in the South,) $12”
Redeemer, Morristown to “Colored People, (in the South,) $28”
St. Andrew’s, Mount Holly to “Colored People, (in the South,) $30”
Christ Church, Newark to “Colored People, (in the South,) $6.50”
Grace, Newark to “Colored People, (in the South,) $20.35”
Trinity, Newark to “Colored People, (in the South,) $157.69”
St. John the Evangelist, New Brunswick to “Colored People, (in the South,) $28.50”
Grace, Orange to “Colored People, (in the South,) $277.25”
St. Mark’s, Orange to “Colored People, (in the South,) $61.50”
Trinity, Red Bank to “Colored People, (in the South,) $7.20”
Christ Church, Ridgewood to “Colored People, (in the South,) $127.57”
Holy Communion, S. Orange to “Colored People, (in the South,) $10”
Trinity, Swedesboro to “Colored People, (in the South,) $10.21”
St. Michael’s, Trenton to “Colored People, (in the South,) $12.19”
1872 Convention Journal[8]
Trinity, Bayonne to “Colored people, (in the South,) $16”
St. Paul’s, Englewood to “Colored people, (in the South,) $32.70”
Grace, Jersey City to “Colored people, (in the South,) $50”
St. Peter’s, Morristown to “Colored people, (in the South,) $49.74”
St. Paul’s, Newark to “Colored people, (in the South,) per Rev. R.J. Love, $10”
Christ Church, Ridgewood to “Colored people, (in the South,) $100”
St. John the Evangelist, New Brunswick to “Colored people, (in the South,) $15.88”
St. Peter’s, Perth Amboy to “Colored people, (in the South,) $9.60”
St. Peter’s, Spotswood to “Colored people, (in the South,) $12.50”
St. Mary’s, Burlington to “Colored people, (in the South,) $34.68”
St. Andrew’s, Mount Holly to “Colored people, (in the South,) $20.45”
Trinity, Swedesboro to “Colored people, (in the South,) $17.22”
1873 Convention Journal[9]
Trinity, Bergen Point to “Colored people, (in the South,) $201”
Christ Church, Hackensack to “Colored people, (in the South,) $19.50”
Mission of the Holy Innocents, Hoboken to “Colored people, (in the South,) $5”
St. Peter’s, Morristown to “Colored people, (in the South,) $75”
Trinity, Newark to “Colored people, (in the South,) $89.90”
Grace, Orange to “Colored people, (in the South,) $40”
St. Paul’s, Paterson to “Colored people, (in the South,) $10.05”
Christ Church, Ridgewood to “Colored people, (in the South,) $83.35”
St. James, Eatontown to “Colored people, (in the South,) $2”
St. John’s, Elizabeth to “Colored people, (in the South,) Theol. Education, $500”
St. John the Evangelist, New Brunswick to “Colored people, (in the South,) $14”
St. Peter’s, Perth Amboy to “Colored people, (in the South,) $23.25”
Trinity, Princeton to “Colored people, (in the South,) mite boxes, $22.24”
St. Peter’s, Spotswood to “Colored people, (in the South,) $5”
Trinity, Woodbridge to “Colored people, (in the South,) $25”
St. Mary’s, Burlington to “Colored people, (in the South,) $11.05”
St. Paul’s, Camden to “Colored people, (in the South,) $25”
St. Andrew’s, Mt. Holly to “Colored people, (in the South,) $18.47”
Christ Church, Riverton to “Colored people, (in the South,) $5”
Christ Church, Waterford to “Colored people, (in the South,) $5”
1874 Convention Journal[10]
Church of the Redeemer, Morristown to “Colored people, (in the South,) $5”
St. Peter’s, Morristown to “Colored people, (in the South,) $54.59”
Grace, Orange to “Colored people, (in the South,) $77.29”
St. Paul’s, Paterson to “Colored people, (in the South,) $60.50”
Christ Church, Ridgewood to “Colored people, (in the South,) $50”
St. John the Evangelist, New Brunswick to “Colored people, (in the South,) $20”
St. Peter’s, Perth Amboy to “Colored people, (in the South,) $50”
St. Mary’s, Burlington to “Colored people, (in the South,) $40.87”
St. Stephen, Beverly to “Colored people, (in the South,) $20”
St. Paul’s, Camden to “Colored people, (in the South,) $25”
Grace, Haddonfield to “Colored people, (in the South,) $11”
Trinity, Moorestown to “Colored people, (in the South,) $4.27”
St. Andrew’s, Mount Holly to “Colored people, (in the South,) $19.52”
Christ Church, Riverton to “Colored people, (in the South,) $5”
1875 Convention Journal[11]
St. Mary’s, Burlington “to Colored people, $29.13”
Grace, Elizabeth “to Colored people, per Rev. Mr. Love, $15”
Grace, Haddonfield “to Colored people, $6”
St. Andrew’s, Mount Holly “to Colored people, $10”
Trinity, Moorestown “to Colored people, from Sunday School, $12.50”
St. John the Evangelist, New Brunswick “to Colored people, $19.50”
St. Peter’s, Perth Amboy “to Colored people, $52”
Christ Church, Riverton “to Colored people, $3”
St. John’s, Salem “to Colored people, $25”
1876 Convention Journal[12]
St. Andrew’s, Bridgeton to “home missions to colored people, $5.75”
St. Mary’s, Burlington to “home missions to colored people, $38.76”
St. Paul’s, Camden to “home missions to colored people, $50”
St. Peter’s, Freehold to “home missions to colored people, $2”
Grace Church, Haddonfield to “home missions to colored people, $6.70”
St. Andrew’s, Mt. Holly to “home missions to colored people, $20”
St. John the Evangelist, New Brunswick to “home missions to colored people, $20
St. Peter’s, Perth Amboy to “home missions to colored people, $20”
Christ Church, Riverton to “home missions to colored people, $5”
Christ Church, Shrewsbury to “home missions to colored people, $12”
Trinity Church, Swedesboro to “home missions to colored people, $32.58”
1877 Convention Journal[13]
St. Stephen’s, Beverly to “home missions to colored people, $8.50”
St. Andrew’s, Bridgeton to “home missions to colored people, (box of clothing), $25
St. Mary’s, Burlington to “home missions to colored people, (including boxes,) $310;”
St. Paul’s, Camden to “Home Missions to colored people, $80”
Christ Church, Elizabeth to “Home Missions to colored people, $33.65”
St. John’s, Elizabeth to “Home Missions to colored people, $140.20”
St. Peter’s, Freehold to “Home Missions to colored people, (individual,) $5”
St. Andrew’s, Mt. Holly to “Home Missions to colored people, $20”
St. John the Evangelist, New Brunswick to “Home Missions to colored people, $12”
St. Peter’s, Perth Amboy to “Home Missions to colored people, $10”
Christ Church, Riverton to “Home Missions to colored people, $11.65”
Trinity Church, Swedesboro to “Home Missions to colored people, $13.75”
St. Michael’s, Trenton to “Home Missions to colored people, $19”
Trinity Church, Trenton to “Home Missions for colored people, $26.31”
Trinity Church, Woodbridge to “Home Missions to colored people, $10”
Reported (separately) through Women’s Auxiliary to the Board of Missions [14]
“One box from Christ Church, Woodbury… $30.00”
“One box from St. John’s Church, Salem… $94.50”
“One box from St. Andrew’s Church, Bridgeton… $1.00”
“One box from St. Peter’s Church, Freehold… $20.00”
“Two boxes from Trinity Church, Princeton… $52.90”
“Two boxes from St. Mary’s Church, Burlington… $300.00”
1878 Convention Journal[15]
St. Mary’s, Burlington to “Home Missions to Colored People, $11.31”
St. Paul’s, Camden to “Domestic Missions, including the colored people, $92.00”[16]
St. John’s, Elizabeth to “Home Missions to Colored People, $42.69”
St. Peter’s, Freehold to “Home Missions to colored people, box of clothing from Woman’s Auxiliary, $48.57”
St. Andrew’s, Mt. Holly to “Homes [sic] Missions to Colored People, $13.00”
St. Andrew’s, Mt. Holly “for box to Freedmen, $14.00”
St. John the Evangelist, New Brunswick to “Home Missions to colored people, $10.50”
St. John’s, Salem to “Home Missions to Colored People, $94.00”
Trinity, Swedesboro to “Home Missions to colored people, $7.00”
Trinity, Woodbridge to “Home Missions to Colored People, $5.00”
Christ Church, Woodbury to “Home Missions to Colored People, $22”
[1] 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), 46.
[2] 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.
[3] 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.
[4] 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.
[5] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Seventh Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New Jersey, Held in Grace Church, Newark, On Tuesday and Wednesday, May 31st and June 1st, MDCCCLXX (New York: John W. Amerman, 1870), 51-93.
[6] Not a typo.
[7] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Eighth 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 30th and 31st, MDCCCLXXI (New York: John W. Amerman, 1871), 53-92.
[8] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Ninth Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New Jersey, Held in Grace Church, Newark, On Tuesday and Wednesday, May 28th and 29th, MDCCCLXXII (New York: John W. Amerman, 1872), 53-105.
[9] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninetieth 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 27th and 28th, MDCCCLXXIII (Newark: The Daily Advertiser, 1873), 60-118.
[10] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninety-First Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the State of New Jersey, Held in Grace Church, Newark, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, May 26th, 27th and 28th, MDCCCLXXIV (Newark: The Daily Advertiser, 1874), 84-125.
[11] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninety-Second Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the State of New Jersey, Held in St. Mary’s Church, Burlington, Tuesday and Wednesday, May 25th and 26th, MDCCCLXXV (Trenton: William S. Sharp, 1875), 58-78.
[12] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninety-Third Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the Diocese of New Jersey, Held in St. Michael’s Church, Trenton, Tuesday and Wednesday, May 30th and 31st, MDCCCLXXVI (Trenton: William S. Sharp, 1876), 137-162.
[13] 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), 96-126.
[14] It is unclear whether these numbers are included in parochial giving reports, or whether there is no overlap. Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninety-fourth Annual Convention, 34.
[15] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninety-Fifth Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, In the Diocese of New Jersey, Held in St. Paul’s Church, Camden, Tuesday and Wednesday, May 28th, and 29th, MDCCCLXXVIII (Trenton: John L. Murphy, 1878), 88-117.
[16] This giving is only partly for “colored people.”
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| Bishop Stokes (seated center-right) at the Diocesan Stations of Reparations Service, St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Freehold, New Jersey, March 25, 2023 (photo Jolyon Pruszinski) |
The Rt. Rev. William H. Stokes, recently retired Bishop of the Diocese of New Jersey, made it a special emphasis of the final years of his episcopate to highlight both the historic ties of the Diocese to slavery, and present racism that requires continued redress. His influential support for the work of identifying these problems, repenting, and working to repair them has led, in part, to the creation of the current Diocesan Reparations Commission and to the Diocese of New Jersey Racial Justice Review. Below are links to many of his public communications from the concluding years of his episcopate on these topics:
March 16, 2021: “New Jersey, it’s time to tell the truth” – NJ.com
June 25, 2021: "A Call for the Establishment of a Reparations Task Force in the State of New Jersey
Opening Remarks and Invocation" published in the “Bishop’s Weekly Message – June 25, 2021”
October 1, 2021: “House of Bishops, Reparations, and Racial Justice”
February 11, 2022: “Absalom Jones and the Legacy of Black Churches”
March 11, 2022: “Strengthening Disciples for the [God’s] Future (Bishop’s Address to the Diocesan Convention, March 5, 2022”
June 17, 2022: “June 17 – The Legacy of Juneteenth”
October 7, 2022: “Honoring Indigenous People’s Day”
October 14, 2022: “Affordable Housing is a Gospel Justice Issue”
October 21, 2022: “Oct. 21 – Faith Allies and Darnella Frazier”
February 3, 2023: “Black History Month & Jemar Tisby”
February 17, 2023: “Confronting the Church’s Complicity with Racism”
March 17, 2023: “Notes on the House of Bishops Meeting”
June 16, 2023: “Juneteenth Observances”
The Diocese of New Jersey Reparations Commission Slavery History Pilgrimage was recently featured in the April 5, 2025 issue of Good News in the Garden State and was posted by the Diocese of New Jersey to its website. The weather is warming up, so now is a great time to go. Invite a friend, or your whole congregation! The pilgrimage guide can be found here.
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| Canon Noreen Duncan[1] |
One of the original co-conveners of the diocesan Reparations Task Force, Canon Noreen Duncan is a member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Ewing, New Jersey. While serving on the Reparations Task Force in 2022, Cn. Duncan wrote the following article “Reparations: My Take”[2] to raise the profile of the work within the Diocese of New Jersey:
Merely suggesting that the United States owes the descendants of formerly enslaved Africans on this land recompense for unpaid labor over several centuries causes some of us to push back from the table and go to watch television in another room. Just saying the word “Reparations” triggers some of us. We protest and argue blamelessness, denial: “My people did not own slaves, did not come to the US until recently.” So I am going to use the word, repeatedly, forcefully: Reparations. The United States of America is an ideal, a vision of the best that humankind could be on this planet. The history of the creation of that identity, of that hope that people could offer each other the finest fruits of human endeavor, was not forged in goodness. Even as the designers of that Utopia on Earth were drafting the outline, they—all men—owned other men, raped women, sold children so that they had the leisure and the means to dream the dream. The ideal, forged among men who had the best intentions, did not come without the most terrible price: the enslavement and attempted annihilation of other men, women, and children. So what is owed the hundreds of thousands of the generations of unpaid builders of the ideal, whose descendants still bear the memory of the lash? Reparations. There is no argument that many of the current citizens of the United States are not descended from former slave-owners. Your story is that your ancestor came in through Ellis Island or Angel Island, or illegally entered and never left, bringing only a letter to find a relative and $8.00. Your ancestor lived in the slums of New York, Detroit, San Francisco, worked in the factories and kitchens and sewers, scratched out a gambling survival, scrabbled to grow farms on the Plains. You do not get a pass, however, by merely asserting the obvious because you are a third generation U.S. citizen. You do not get a pass, because as soon as the descendants of the former slave owners needed your ancestors, they declared them white. And with that declaration, your ancestors were able to claim heritage and brotherhood with the former slave-owners, and they, you, accepted it! So that acceptance joins you in the conversation about Reparations.[3]
A tireless advocate in the work of justice, Cn. Duncan has served as the Trinity Cathedral Academy Board president, on the Cathedral Major Chapter, on the Episcopal Church Executive Council, on the Mission Within Joint Standing Committee, and as the Anglican Church of Canada liaison. She has been one of the primary creators and teachers of the diocesan Antiracism training course, training over 300 clergy both domestically and internationally.[4]
[1] Diocese of New Jersey, “Nominating Committee Report, 238th Diocesan Convention,” 3: https://dioceseofnj.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Doc-16-2022-Nom-Cmte-Rpt.pdf). Used with permission.
[2] Noreen Duncan, "Reparations: My Take" was first published February 19, 2022 by the Diocese of New Jersey. It was deleted from the Diocesan website in February 2025. The Diocese of New Jersey Racial Justice Review is posting the text of this article as part of an effort to preserve important historical documents related to slavery, racism, and reparative justice that have recently been deleted from the diocesan website. It is still accessible thanks to archive.org at: https://web.archive.org/web/20220521132323/https://dioceseofnj.org/know_your_story/reparations-my-take/.
[3] Duncan, "Reparations: My Take."
[4] Diocese of New Jersey, “Nominating Committee Report, 238th Diocesan Convention,” 3.