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The History of Slavery in New Jersey

Slavery shaped New Jersey from the 1600s through the Revolution. Learn about Lewis Morris, Colonel Tye, and others as author Rick Geffken uncovers the state's overlooked history of enslavement.

Dutch and English settlers brought the first enslaved people to New Jersey in the seventeenth century. Lewis Morris brought Barbadian slaves to his Monmouth County estate in 1675. By the time of the Revolutionary War, slavery was a well-established practice on farms throughout New Jersey. "Colonel Tye," an escaped slave from Rumson joined the British during the war and led raids into towns near his former home. Author Rick Geffken reveals these and other stories from New Jersey's dark history of enslavement.

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