{"id":9886,"date":"2022-02-01T13:59:50","date_gmt":"2022-02-01T18:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/?p=9886"},"modified":"2022-02-01T19:21:50","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T00:21:50","slug":"living-for-the-city-a-saint-peters-university-public-history-project-exploring-the-history-of-jersey-citys-african-american-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/02\/01\/living-for-the-city-a-saint-peters-university-public-history-project-exploring-the-history-of-jersey-citys-african-american-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Living for the City \u2013 A Public History Project Exploring the History of Jersey City\u2019s African American Community"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to Black history, Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s University and members of Jersey City\u2019s African American community are partnering to document it.<\/p>\n

John Johnson, Jr., Ph.D., assistant professor of history at Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s University, is leading the charge with a public history project titled \u201cLiving for the City,\u201d which is designed to examine the rich history of the African American community in Jersey City.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

John Johnson, Jr., Ph.D., assistant professor of history at Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s University.<\/p><\/div>\n

Prior to joining the faculty at Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s, Dr. Johnson served as the executive director of Newark Celebration 350, a yearlong celebration of Newark, New Jersey\u2019s founding. His work in Newark inspired him to conduct this similar project in Jersey City. The project is also aimed to give context to the two visits of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. H \u201965 to Jersey City in the late 1960s. One of the visits was to Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s and the second was to the Metropolitan AME Zion Church.<\/p>\n

The project has become a reality with the support of a Humanities Research for the Public Good<\/em> grant from the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC).Many aspects of the project are being carried out by Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s students under the guidance of Dr. Johnson and other members of the Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s faculty and administration including Michael DeGruccio, Ph.D., associate professor of history, and University Archivist Mary Kinahan-Ockay.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CIC\u2019s grant was created to increase student interest and participation in the humanities and the receipt of the grant is making that feasible at Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s,\u201d said Dr. Johnson.<\/p>\n

Overall, the project will explore the African American experience in the North beginning with the Great Migration in the 1930s, connecting with the Civil Rights Movement and uprisings of the 1960s, and concluding with the history of Black urban space as it came to be in the 1970s.It will be conducted in a three step process, which includes an archival research phase, an oral history phase and a documentary- development phase.<\/p>\n

In partnership with Metropolitan AME Zion Church and the Jersey City Office of Cultural Affairs, students are currently conducting the archival research using The Hon. Frank J. Guarini Center for Community Memory, The Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s University Archives, Rare Books and Special Collections and using other local archives.<\/p>\n

For the oral history phase, students will interview people in the local African American community who arrived or whose families arrived in the Great Migration and who lived through the uprisings of the 1960s. The participants are largely members of the Metropolitan AME Zion Church and the Monumental Baptist Church in Jersey City. They will explore questions regarding the migration experience and memories of the 1964 uprising. Many of these residents attended both of Dr. King\u2019s speeches and have not yet documented their experiences.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Johnson (left) with Martin Luther King III H ’21 (right) at Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s 2021 Michaelmas Convocation.<\/p><\/div>\n

The documentary will explore the history of Jersey City\u2019s African American community and the record of Black Freedom Movement speakers at Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s and Metro AME Zion Church. It will serve as an essential part of the public history during this era of the community.<\/p>\n

The need for this documentation became more apparent than ever when Martin Luther King III H \u201921, the son of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. H \u201965 and Coretta Scott King, came to Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s in September to provide the keynote address for the 2021 Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s Michaelmas Convocation. While there were articles about Dr. King\u2019s visit in 1965 and Coretta Scott King\u2019s visit in 1975, there were no audio or visual recordings of either event.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to be sure to archive the details of the visit of Martin Luther King III to preserve this interesting history of the King family and Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s,\u201d said Dr. Johnson. \u201cThe visits of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. H \u201965, Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King III H \u201921 are such a significant part of our history, which truly speaks to the uniqueness of Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

The archival work on the project thus far has already revealed some interesting intersections in the history of Jersey City\u2019s religious communities. For example, the Monumental Baptist Church was, in fact, a Catholic school before it became a house of worship for the Protestant community. The researchers learned that many of the Protestants who were members of the Church actually attended the Catholic school.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the current political and social climate, we often imagine our histories to be extremely polarized, when in fact, our research is unveiling the overlaps and intersections of how interconnected our history actually is,\u201d said Dr. Johnson.<\/p>\n

The project is also revealing some interesting aspects of how Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s Jesuit traditions played an important role in the City\u2019s African American history. The students are currently learning about Project 25, a program which began in 1968 through a partnership between then Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s President Rev. Victor Yanitelli, S.J. and the head of the Monumental Baptist Church. The program offered enrichment programs for high school juniors and seniors from underserved schools to prepare them for a college courses at Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cProject 25 is just one of the many examples of how Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s has lived out the Jesuit traditions of cura personalis<\/em> and of people for and with others,\u201d said Dr. Johnson. \u201cWe are grateful for the opportunity to explore and learn more about the institution\u2019s role in the rich history of the African American community of Jersey City.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it comes to Black history, Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s University and members of Jersey City\u2019s African American community are partnering to document it. John Johnson, Jr., Ph.D., assistant professor of history at Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s University, is leading the charge with a public history project titled \u201cLiving for the City,\u201d which is designed to examine the rich […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":9888,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3,5,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-current-students","category-faculty-staff","category-future-students"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLiving for the City \u2013 A Public History Project Exploring the History of Jersey City\u2019s African American Community - News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/02\/01\/living-for-the-city-a-saint-peters-university-public-history-project-exploring-the-history-of-jersey-citys-african-american-community\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"aboyer1\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/02\/01\/living-for-the-city-a-saint-peters-university-public-history-project-exploring-the-history-of-jersey-citys-african-american-community\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/02\/01\/living-for-the-city-a-saint-peters-university-public-history-project-exploring-the-history-of-jersey-citys-african-american-community\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"aboyer1\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0e6cac7c1e5bde0788515bdfe0adea4b\"},\"headline\":\"Living for the City \u2013 A Public History Project Exploring the History of Jersey City\u2019s African American Community\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-01T18:59:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-02T00:21:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/02\/01\/living-for-the-city-a-saint-peters-university-public-history-project-exploring-the-history-of-jersey-citys-african-american-community\/\"},\"wordCount\":964,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/02\/01\/living-for-the-city-a-saint-peters-university-public-history-project-exploring-the-history-of-jersey-citys-african-american-community\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/230\/files\/2022\/02\/IMG_0633-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Alumni\",\"Current Students\",\"Faculty Staff\",\"Future Students\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/02\/01\/living-for-the-city-a-saint-peters-university-public-history-project-exploring-the-history-of-jersey-citys-african-american-community\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/02\/01\/living-for-the-city-a-saint-peters-university-public-history-project-exploring-the-history-of-jersey-citys-african-american-community\/\",\"name\":\"Living for the City \u2013 A Public History Project Exploring the History of Jersey City\u2019s African American Community - 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