The elementary narrative around enslavement, the Civil War, and Black history in general has characterized the South as the villain and the North as the heroes. This simplification obscures the reality of mistreatment, discrimination, and racism that has been equally persistent in the northern states of the U.S. My goal is to challenge this narrative by presenting a holistic local history of my hometown, Hopewell, New Jersey, incorporating the experiences of Black people. As a student of history, I understand the impact of connecting with the stories and people from your hometown. Local history is deeply personal. This makes it powerful. Learning about a building where you have been or a street that you have driven down fosters a greater connection between a person and their history. And how can we expect to understand our present if we do not acknowledge our past? Hopewell is an overwhelmingly white town that dates back to colonial America. The disparity and lack of diversity in our town cannot be fully understood until we are more honest about the past of enslavement and exploitation of Black labor. This paper provides several stories of Black experiences and resistance that have failed to make it into local history books.
