Dec. 18 marked the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the amendment to abolish slavery.
NEWARK -- Friday marked the 150th anniversary of the adoption of the Thirteen Amendment to abolish slavery.
The occasion was celebrated by a ceremony Friday morning in front of the Essex County Courthouse's Abraham Lincoln statue.
MLK, Jr. statue unveiled on anniversary of Nobel Prize winAbout 30 people attended the one-hour, mid-morning event, which featured song, prayer, and a reading of the amendment by local religious leaders. There was also a lecture on "Newark's Role in the Ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment" by historian Lloyd Turner.
Mayor Ras Baraka was slated to be at the event, but could not make it because of an emergency, officials said.
Turner, a Christian author who has a Ph.D. in public policy analysis from the University of Pennsylvania, said the amendment both abolished slavery and provided a foundation for the enforcement of justice "in the workplace."
Several attendees, however, said that while the law was monumental, they feel there is still a long way to go.
"That abolished slavery and freed us as African-Americans, but there's a lot of 'slavery' through racism and other areas that are strongholds that are going on," said attendee Anna Rebecca Schell.
"We're able to at least seek the wisdom of Heaven and take a stand."
Here are 10 historical details, shared by Lloyd, about the history of abolition in N.J. and Newark:
- On April 19, 1865, Newark held a memorial service for President Abraham Lincoln a week after his assassination. Business was suspended everywhere, and dignitaries marched from Broad and Market Streets to Military Park, before bells tolled at 4:30 p.m.
- During Lincoln's presidency, New Jersey was particularly hostile towards him, compared to the other Northern states "because of fears about the Civil War's impacts on their lives, their commercial ties to the South, and his desire to abolish slavery," Turner said.
- New Jersey was the only Northern state that voted against Lincoln in the 1860 and 1864 presidential elections.
- N.J. rejected the Thirteenth Amendment on March 16, 1865, and was the only Northern State that had not ratified it when it became federal law.
- N.J. was also not among the 27 states in the union (of 36 states at the time), that ratified the Thirteenth Amendment by Dec. 18, 1865, when it was declared officially ratified.
- The majority of former Confederate states ratified the amendment before New Jersey.
- Newark "played a key part" in New Jersey's ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment. N.J. Governor Marcus Ward was born and died in Newark.
- When Ward became N.J. governor, he prioritized the Thirteenth Amendment. In his inaugural address Jan. 19, 1866, he said his first act would be to ask the state's Congress to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment.
- Soon after that speech, the state legislature ratified the Thirteenth Amendment and Ward signed it into law.
- Approximately 16 slaves were freed in New Jersey by the Thirteenth Amendment.
Laura Herzog may be reached at lherzog@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LauraHerzogL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.