African-American Contributions

Alvin P. Williams Park in Sewarren commemorates the public service tradition of Woodbridge African-Americans from Colonial days to the present. Honoring the bravery of a Woodbridge police officer who died in 1979 trying to save two drowning children, the park is a center for Township social and cultural activity throughout the year. Peter Williams, Sr. (1755-1823) was one of many Woodbridge African-American slaves who served with patriot forces in the Revolutionary War. Williams escaped from his Loyalist owner, joined the colonial militia and heroically hid a local clergyman from a British manhunt. Williams’ son, Peter Williams, Jr. (1780-1840), founded St. Philip’s African Church in 1808, New York City’s first African-American church, and organized the anti-slavery Phoenix Society in 1813. On Mar. 31, 1870, Thomas Mundy Peterson (1824-1904) became the first African-American in the United States to vote under the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Born in Metuchen during the years it was part of Woodbridge Township, he served on the Perth Amboy charter revision committee and the Middlesex County Commission. Famed Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher and baseball executive Don Newcombe lived in Colonia from 1949-60 and contributed his celebrity to support numerous local charities. During the late 1960s, Colonia resident James Morgan served as the chair of the national Clean-up, Paint-up, Fix-up Contest that spurred a new round of civic pride and development. First Baptist Church of Woodbridge was founded in 1906 and flourished today in Sewarren, and the Township’s oldest African-American political organization, Independent Club of Colonia, was established in 1949, dedicated to promoting civic betterment.

Woodbridge, New Jersey · United States