Ethnic Groups

This page is dedicated to articles about the history of local ethnic groups. Many are written to show how ethnic groups have been represented in local media or histories. The primary focus has been on African-Americans and how they have been covered in The Matawan Journal. I'd like to write more about the growing Latin community and some more historical pieces on the Lenape, but so far the resources have been limited. Work on this page is ongoing.

African-Americans

Since March 2010, I've been writing a series of blog articles about African Americans as their stories were covered in The Matawan Journal. So far, the articles cover the following editions of The Journal:

• 1874 - 1920 (Use of the N Word in The Matawan Journal)
• 28 Aug 1875 (Blacks observed riding the train to the Shore)
• 16 Oct 1880 (Blacks given a minstrel voice)
• 4 Apr 1885 (Blacks forced by employer to vote for candidate opposed to Incorporation Doctrine)
• 8 May 1886 (Mingo Jack lynching)
• 5 Aug 1893 (Vagrant checks out a Matawan store, then distracts owner, steals cash boxes, flees, is caught and lands in county jail)
• 23 Nov 1895 (Unidentified man in Red Bank brawl said to have tried to slit white man's throat)
• 27 May 1897 (Love triangle ends in Shrewsbury murder)
• 30 Mar 1899 (Pilgrims from Oklahoma stranded in Jersey City enroute to Liberia, rescued by Cliffwood Brick Co)
• 24 Apr 1899 (First black jury foreman in Middlesex County)
• 20 Sep 1899 (Slack murder in Red Bank)
• 28 Mar 1901 (AME Zion in Keyport is criticized; Henry Terhune provides a racist travelogue from Jamaica)
• 4 Jun 1908 (Ice man's daughter seriously injured in wagon accident)
• 24 Mar 1910 (Drunken man jailed for touching white woman's shoulder)
• 7 Sep 1911 (John Bennett stabbed in/near stables in Atlantic Highlands)
• 20 Sep 1917 (Metal worker murdered in Cliffwood over a woman)
• 11 Jul 1918 (Local men subjected to WWI draft; local man found not guilty in court case)
• 19 Jan 1922 (Cliffwood negro executed at Trenton)
• 2 Mar 1928 (Plasterer seeks refuge at home of local judge after altercation with white electrician in a Keyport basement)
• 20 Apr 1928 (Murder at Cliffwood Beach)
• 10 Oct 1930 ( Colored reaction against Republican Party due to Supreme Court nomination prompts their formation of independent progressive party in NJ)
• 18 Dec 1931 (Local community organizes to oppose segregation of local schools)
• 14 Jul 1933`(Manhunt for "burly Negro" thief in Keyport)
• 29 Mar 1935 (Second Baptist Church musical performance benefiting Laurence Harbor PTA)
• 14 Jun 1935 (23rd anniversary of Second Baptist Church)
• 7 Oct 1943 (Newark men fined for abusive language after traffic accident)
• 27 Jun 1957 (History of the Butler Masonic Lodge no 27, Cliffwood)
• 3 Oct 1969 (Matawan Journal counters "agitation and protestations by Negro pupils and their leaders" at Matawan Regional High School over the supposed lack of library resources on black culture, saying they "apparently overlooked" the 195 books in the high school library.) (pp 1, 4)
• 27 Aug 1970 (Children expected to fall behind white counterparts without pre-school)
• 20 Apr 1977 (125th anniversary of St James AME Zion Church)

 I also wrote topical articles:

• Researching slavery in northern Monmouth County 
• Africa in Matawan: 1855 and 1936 
• Union Prospect Cemetery 
• 120th anniversary of Second Baptist Church (2010)

See the Genealogy section of my Research Tools page for my guides to African-Americans living in Matawan Township in the 1940 Census. As of July 2012, I've completed 2 of the 3 enumeration districts for the township. I'm hoping to prompt interest in family research. If you find errors in the guides, let me know.

Lenape Indians

I wrote a piece on locally available resources for research on the Lenape Indians.