 | This article is an orphan, as no other articles link to it . Please introduce links to this page from related articles ; try the Find link tool for suggestions. (November 2024) |
African-Americans have been residents of Camden, New Jersey's founding in 1828 and have contributed heavily to the city's culture. As of 2023, African-American residents were estimated to make up 42.9% of Camden's population. [1]
The Coopers, one of the founding families of what would become Camden, enslaved African-Americans. More than 14 enslaved people worked at Pomona Hall and in the orchards and fields of its 400-acre property. Most of the land is now the Parkside neighborhood of Camden. [2] The area also served as a central point for the buying of enslaved Africans; by 1766, at least 800 enslaved Africans had been sold at the three ferry ports in the area. [3] Two markers commemorating the slave trade in Camden have been erected, in 2017 and 2019 respectively. [4]
In the 1820s and 1830s, African-Americans in Camden often fared better than in other New Jersey communities due to the "patronage and humanitarian interventions of local Quakers". [5]
Camden's earliest African-American neighborhood was named Fettersville, followed by Kaignville, both of which were established on the city's outskirts. [5] [6] In 1832, the Macedonia African Methodist Episcopal Church was founded, making it the city's first African-American church. The church served as a safe house for fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad. [6] A second African-American church, Kaighn Avenue Baptist Church, was established in 1838. [7]
In June 1950, it is through that a young Martin Luther King Jr. planned a sit-in while visiting Camden. [8] [9]
In 1967, Charles 'Poppy' Sharp founded the Black Believers of Knowledge, an organization founded on the betterment of African American citizens in South Camden. He would soon rename his organization to the Black People's Unity Movement (BPUM). The BPUM was one of the first major cultural organizations to arise after the deindustrialization of Camden's industrial life. Going against the building turmoil in the city, Sharp founded BPUM on "the belief that all the people in our community should contribute to positive change." [10]
In 1969, Black students at Rutgers University-Camden undertook a number of protests to demand better representation of African-American teachers and students on campus, and the improvement of services on campus for Black individuals. On February 10, the Black Student Unity Movement released a list with 24 demands addressed towards university officials. Two weeks later, after students felt Rutgers president Mason W. Gross "continued to be insufficiently attentive", they barricaded themselves inside the campus's College Center on February 26. The protest ended when Gross released a statement that he would address student grievances. [11] Beginning on September 2, 1969, the city saw riots after a white police officer beat a young Black girl. A rally of 300 protesters gathered outside Cooper University Hospital, where a sniper shot and killed a teenage girl and a police officer. [12]
Spring 1971 saw a second wave of protests at the Camden campus, again after Black students felt university officials were not responding adequately to student demands. Several student protesters were expelled and several employees fired. In response, Black students at the Rutgers campuses in New Brunswick and Newark staged their own protests. [11]
In 2001, Camden residents and entrepreneurs founded the South Jersey Caribbean Cultural and Development Organization (SJCCDO) as a non-profit organization aimed at promoting understanding and awareness of Caribbean Culture in South Jersey and Camden. The most prominent of the events that the SJCCDO organizes is the South Jersey Caribbean Festival, an event that is held for both cultural and economical reasons. The festival's primary focus is cultural awareness of all of Camden's residents. The festival also showcases free art and music as well as financial information and free promotion for Camden artists. [13]
In 1986, Tawanda 'Wawa' Jones began the Camden Sophisticated Sisters, a youth drill team. CSS serves as a self-proclaimed 'positive outlet' for the Camden' students, offering both dance lessons as well as community service hours and social work opportunities. Since its conception CSS has grown to include two other organizations, all ran through Jones: Camden Distinguished Brothers and The Almighty Percussion Sound drum line. [14] In 2013, CSS was featured on ABC's Dancing with the Stars . [15]
Corinne's Place is a Black-owned soul food restaurant located in Camden, New Jersey. Corinne Bradley-Powers opened the restaurant on Haddon Avenue in 1989. [16] In February 2022, The James Beard Foundation awarded Corinne's Place with the America's Classic award. The James Beard America's Classics Award is awarded to "locally owned restaurants that have timeless appeal and beloved regionally for quality food that reflects the character of its community." Corinne's Place is one of six soul food restaurants that have been awarded the America's Classic Award to date. [17]
Soul food is the ethnic cuisine of African Americans. Originating in the American South from the cuisines of enslaved Africans transported from Africa through the Atlantic slave trade, soul food is closely associated with the cuisine of the Southern United States. The expression "soul food" originated in the mid-1960s when "soul" was a common word used to describe African-American culture. Soul food uses cooking techniques and ingredients from West African, Central African, Western European, and Indigenous cuisine of the Americas.
Rutgers University, officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was affiliated with the Dutch Reformed Church. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States, the second-oldest in New Jersey, and one of nine colonial colleges that were chartered before the American Revolution.
Camden is a city in Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan region. The city was incorporated on February 13, 1828. Camden has been the county seat of Camden County since the county's formation on March 13, 1844. The city derives its name from Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden. Camden is made up of over 20 neighborhoods, and is part of the South Jersey region of the state.
New Brunswick is a city in and the county seat of Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A regional commercial hub for central New Jersey, the city is both a college town and a commuter town for residents commuting to New York City within the New York metropolitan area. New Brunswick is on the Northeast Corridor rail line, 27 miles (43 km) southwest of Manhattan. The city is located on the southern banks of the Raritan River in the heart of the Raritan Valley region.
Rowan University is a public research university in Glassboro, New Jersey, with a medical campus in Stratford and medical and academic campuses in Camden. Founded in 1923 as Glassboro Normal School on a 25-acre (10 ha) site donated by 107 residents, the school was formerly known as Glassboro State College from 1958 until 1992 and Rowan College of New Jersey from 1992 to 1997.
Omega Phi Chi Multicultural Sorority, Inc. (ΩΦΧ) is an American multicultural sorority that was established on November 9, 1988 at Rutgers University–New Brunswick.
Richard Levis McCormick is a historian and academic administrator. He has been the interim president of Stony Brook University since August 2024 and is president emeritus of Rutgers University, having served as president from 2002 to 2012.
Robert Finley was an American Presbyterian clergyman and educator who is known as one of the founders of the American Colonization Society, which established the colony of Liberia in West Africa as a place for free African Americans.
Rutgers University–Newark is one of three regional campuses of Rutgers University, a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. It is located in Newark. Rutgers, founded in 1766 in New Brunswick, is the eighth oldest college in the United States and a member of the Association of American Universities. In 1945, the state legislature voted to make Rutgers University, then a private liberal arts college, into the state university and the following year merged the school with the former University of Newark (1936–1946), which became the Rutgers–Newark campus. Rutgers also incorporated the College of South Jersey and South Jersey Law School, in Camden, as a constituent campus of the university and renamed it Rutgers–Camden in 1950.
Rutgers University–Camden is one of three regional campuses of Rutgers University, a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. It is located in Camden, New Jersey. Founded in 1926 as the South Jersey Law School, Rutgers–Camden began as an amalgam of the South Jersey Law School and the College of South Jersey. It is the southernmost of the three regional campuses of Rutgers—the others being located in New Brunswick and Newark. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". In 2024 the school was ranked 48th among the top public universities and 98th among national universities by US News and World Report
Camden County College (CCC) is a public community college in Camden County, New Jersey. Camden County College has its main campus in the Blackwood section of Gloucester Township, with satellite locations in Camden, Cherry Hill and Sicklerville. The college offers Associate in Arts, Associate in Science, and Associate in Applied Science degree programs and certificate programs.
Slavery in New Jersey began in the early 17th century, when the Dutch trafficked African slaves for labor to develop the colony of New Netherland. After England took control of the colony in 1664, Britain continued the importation of slaves from Africa. They also imported "seasoned" slaves from their colonies in the West Indies and enslaved Native Americans from the Carolinas.
Rutgers University is an institution of higher learning with campuses across the State of New Jersey its main flagship campus in New Brunswick and Piscataway, and two other campuses in the cities of Newark and Camden, New Jersey.
Rutgers University–New Brunswick is one of three regional campuses of Rutgers University, a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. It is located in New Brunswick and Piscataway. It is the oldest campus of the university, the others being in Camden and Newark. The campus is composed of several smaller campuses that are large distances away from each other: College Avenue, Busch, Livingston,Cook, and Douglass, the latter two sometimes referred to as "Cook/Douglass", as they are adjacent to each other. Livingston's nickname is Livvy (Liv-ee). All 4 sub-campuses connect primarily via State Route 18. Rutgers–New Brunswick also includes several buildings in downtown New Brunswick. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". The New Brunswick campuses include 19 undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools. The New Brunswick campus is also known as the birthplace of college football.
History of Camden, New Jersey starts with the introduction of Quakers into the native lands of the Lenape population in the Delaware Valley. Throughout the city's history there have been times of economic growth and development; as well as stagnation and decline. The City of Camden was named after Camden County, which was named for Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, who was a civil libertarian, promoter of the American cause, and a British judge and lawyer. The city was incorporated on February 13, 1828.
The role of slavery at American colleges and universities has been a recent focus of historical investigation and controversy. Enslaved Africans labored to build institutions of higher learning in the United States, and the slave economy was involved in funding many universities. Enslaved persons were used to build academic buildings and residential halls. Though slavery has often been seen as a uniquely Southern institution, colleges and universities in Northern states benefited from the labor of slaves. The economics of slavery brought some slave owners great wealth, enabling them to become major donors to fledgling colleges. Until the Civil War (1861–1865), slavery as an institution was legal and many colleges and universities utilized enslaved people and benefited from the slavocracy. In some cases, enslaved persons were sold by university administrators to generate capital, notably Georgetown University, a Catholic institution. In some parts of the nation it was also not uncommon for wealthy students to bring an enslaved person with them to college. Ending almost 250 years of slavocracy did not end white supremacy, structural racism, or other forms of oppression at American colleges and the legacy of slavery still persists in many establishments.
Corinne's Place is a restaurant in Camden, New Jersey. In 2022 the restaurant was selected as an America's Classic by the James Beard Foundation.
Camden, New Jersey has long been home to Hispanic and Latino residents, and the Hispanic and Latino community has grown in size in the 21st century.