111 W 2nd St
Moorestown, NJ 08057
USA
As part of its ongoing NJ History Speaker Series, The Historical Society of Moorestown in conjunction with the Moorestown Library presents Professor Jim Gigantino II (via SKYPE!) who will discuss his book “The Ragged Road to Abolition: Slavery and Freedom in NJ 1775-1865.”
Despite what many Americans may think, the issue of slavery in the Antebellum Period was not neatly divided along the Mason-Dixon line. Professor Gigantino will trace New Jersey’s efforts to abolish slavery within the state – a plodding process that turned the notion of “free state” on its head and allowed slavery to persist in New Jersey until the end of the Civil War. Event attendees will gain a deeper understanding of the political complexities of the Civil War and the role New Jersey played.
Professor Jim Gigantino II is the Associate Chair and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of History at the J. William Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences, University of Arkansas. He is an Early American historian who specializes in the history of slavery and was awarded the 2015 Robert P. McCormick Prize by the New Jersey Historical Commission and the 2015 New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance Authors Award for his book, The Ragged Road to Abolition, Slavery and Freedom in New Jersey, 1775-1865.
Read about the book here.
