Slaveholding spread among wealthier residents in Newark Township, including Cranetown, by the beginning of the 18th century and continued through the time of the American Revolution. The earliest recorded names of enslaved people in Newark Township are from Cranetown in the 1720s. In this talk, Montclair resident Timothy Crist will discuss his research on the extent of slaveholding in our area during the colonial period and the efforts of enslaved people to seek freedom.

Timothy J. Crist is the author of New Englanders in a New Land: Newark in the Proprietary Period, 1666-1702 (Rutgers University Press, 2026). A longtime Montclair resident, Tim is a co-founder and president of the Newark History Society, and he has served as chair of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities and president of the Newark Public Library.

This is a free program held on zoom, register for the zoom link here.