By Tyler Barth
Diversity is a hallmark of the Morris School District. But it wasn’t always like this.
Morris Township had the first segregated school system in the United States.
That’s according to the Rev. Sidney Williams Jr., pastor of Bethel AME Church in Morristown.
He spoke at What Freedom Looks Like, a panel discussion at the Morris Museum in Morris Township during Black History Month. The talk kicked off The Ties That Bind, an exhibit on Morris County race relations that runs through March 29, 2020.
Williams cited an 1850 state act “to provide for the education of colored children in the township of Morris, in the county of Morris.”
Although New Jersey is a northern state, it did not fully prohibit slavery until the end of the Civil War, when the 13th Amendment outlawed slavery nationwide. Often called “apprentices,” African Americans were treated like slaves in the Garden State.
New Jersey still has the sixth most-segregated school system in the country, according to a 2017 study by the UCLA Civil Rights Project. How hard will it be to change that, asked a member of the Morristown-based Wind of the Spirit Immigration Resource Center.
“Wouldn’t it be a shame if, 25 or 50 years from now, there’s a panel here discussing the very same issue because we have lacked the moral courage to do what is right?” responded panelist Betty Livingston Adams, an author and historian whose comment was met with thunderous applause.
Adams asserted it’s more expensive and difficult to maintain systematic segregation than to ensure children receive the education they deserve. New Jerseyans tend to “judge and assess children based upon circumstances not of their choosing,” while bragging about the value of a proper education, she said.
Race and immigration issues were divisive enough in the 19th century to splinter a Morristown congregation.
In 1840, what is now the Presbyterian Church of Morristown was split into two churches, noted church historian Barbara King.
The First Church stood at the Green, site of the present church. The other, the South Street Church, now serves as the Parish House. It was consider more tolerant. The two churches reunited 85 years later, in 1925.
Other panelists at the Morris Museum Lillie Edwards, a Drew University professor, and Union County College professor Michael Snyder.
Sarah Minegar, archivist for the Morristown National Historical Park, moderated the two-hour session, which was punctuated by performances by the Bethel Gospel Choir and the National Liturgical Dance Network, headed by Rev. Eyesha Marable of Mount Zion AME Church in Millburn. Jonathan Royal also sang.
Planning for What Freedom Looks Like started in 2017.
“This is a crescendo, a culmination of the events we’ve had,” said Pastor Williams.
The panel discussion was underwritten by the New Jersey Historical Commission and the New Jersey Humanities Council. Williams said plans call for creation of a “museum of culture” at Bethel AME this fall.
Correction: An earlier version of this story attributed comments by Betty Livingston Adams to another panelist. Morristown Green regrets the error.
My son went to an all white school here in NY I went to an all white school in TX. No it was not easy there and it certainly was not easy for my son here sorry to say.
NJ is more racist than TX. I apologize to my son yesterday. Had I known this before I would have stayed in TX😢 He said no problem I graduated already so no problem. 🥺