Fall 2020 Revolution NJ Update Available on YouTube

Fall 2020 Revolution NJ Update Available on YouTube

The Fall 2020 update session on plans for Revolution NJ, the state’s commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the United States, is available for viewing on YouTube.

The October 14 session included:

  • updates on funding for the initiative, including a $500,000 state budget appropriation for the 2021 Fiscal Year and applications for grants for a Revolution NJ app and urban conversation centers.
  • ongoing long-range planning, informed by public commentary during listening sessions that occurred in 2019 and early 2020
  • the latest on the statewide K-12 social studies curriculum survey whose results will help determine priority areas for Revolution NJ education initiatives
  • governance structure updates
  • the latest on work toward a possible multi-location Revolution NJ public arts project in partnership with the NJ State Council on the Arts and Monument Lab .

Guest speaker Algernon Ward, Jr. of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment Reenactors, Inc. presented “Freedom First: Black Soldiers in the American Revolution.” Citing examples on both the British and American sides of the war, Ward related the rationale for Black men to join the British forces, as well as the evolving attitudes and regulations that first restricted then allowed Blacks to join the Continental Army. Ward can be contacted at Algernon.ward at gmail.com .

Additional resources discussed during the Q&A session include:

Black Lives in the Past and Present: New Jersey African American Resources for the American Revolution. – NJEA Review.

Revolutionary Neighbors profiles of Black New Jerseyans who fought during the Revolution:
Colonel Tye  (Loyalist)
Prime  (Continental Army)
Jacob Francis  (Continental Army)
Oliver Cromwell (Continental Army)

NJ Historical Commission’s COVID-19 resources list:  (please note that some resources included in this document are out of date)

NJHC and New Jersey Council on the Humanities’ Advancing Your Mission During COVID-19 and Beyond webinar series.

The next Revolution NJ update session will be held on January 14 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. This meeting will be held virtually, online; participation details will be announced as the date nears.