Enslaved Africans Once Sold Here

African slavery in New Jersey began with early European settlement. By 1766, circa 800 captive people had been sold here at the Federal Street Ferry and two other nearby ferry landings. In Africa, approximately 24 million captured men, women and children marched to coastal prisons. Only half survived the journey. These 12 million survivors then endured deplorable conditions on the Middle Passage ocean crossings, where an additional 2 million died from disease, malnutrition, dehydration, drowning, suicide and abuse. By 1800, New Jersey's enslaved African population exceeded 12,000. New Jersey was the last Northern state to emancipate, adopting gradual abolition in 1804 and finally ratifying the 13th Amendment on January 23, 1866.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · United States