Witness Stones Project Inc.

Restore History, Educate, and Honor Humanity

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Witness Stones Project Students Recognized by Hopewell Valley Historical Society

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Photo courtesy of HVHS Trustee Cheryl Jackson

By Amie Rukenstein on MercerMe.com on October 3, 2022

At its annual meeting on Sunday, September 18 at the Watershed Institute, the Hopewell Valley Historical Society announced award winners and attendees were treated to a talk about the historic Drake house and its most famous inhabitant, Muriel Gardiner Buttinger, who went to Europe to meet Sigmund Freud, fought the nazis with her husband Joseph Buttinger, and finally settled on the grounds of what is now the Watershed Institute.

Among the award winners were the entire 2021/22 8th grade class for their work on the Witness Stones project. Their Principal, Nicole Gianfredi told MercerMe: “I am so proud of our Timberlane students and their work with the Witness Stones Project. With the guidance of our social studies teachers, our eighth grade students engaged in research and civic engagement, while restoring the history and honoring the humanity of Friday Truehart. While it was an extraordinary learning opportunity for the students, it was an incredibly impactful experience for everyone at the [Witness Stones] Ceremony.” Continue reading.

Friday Truehart, Once Enslaved in Hopewell, Commemorated in Witness Stone Project Ceremony

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Courtesy of MercerMe.com
By Ambreen Ali in MercerMe.com on April 30, 2022

Timberlane Middle School became the first in the state to partake in a project that culminated on Thursday with the placement of a permanent brass stone in Hopewell Boro to honor the life of an enslaved individual.

Through the Witness Stones Project, eighth grade students have learned about the life of Friday Truehart, a thirteen-year-old boy who came to Hopewell Valley as the slave of Rev. Oliver Hart. Truehart’s life was documented in the book If These Stones Could Talk by his descendant Beverly Mills and fellow historian Elaine Buck. Continue reading.

Witness Stones Project Comes to New Jersey to Honor, Remember Enslaved Teen

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Thursday, April 28, 2022 – Witness Stones Project installation ceremony at the Old School Baptist Church on Broad Street, honoring Friday Truehart, who was enslaved in Hopewell at the age of 13 by Rev. Oliver Hart.Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

 

By Michael Mancuso for NJ Advance Media for NJ.com on April 28, 2022

More than 240 years ago, in Charleston, South Carolina, a 13-year-old African American boy named Friday Trueheart was separated from his mother Dinah, when their enslaver, the Rev. Oliver Hart, came north to New Jersey and took the young teen with him.

Oliver would become the new pastor at the Old School Baptist Church, which still stands on West Broad Street in Hopewell.

On Thursday, a Witness Stone — a permanent brass marker to memorialize an enslaved individual — was unveiled on the ground in front of the church by Truehart’s direct descendant and family matriarch Patricia True Payne. Continue reading.

Students from Timberlane Middle School Honor Friday Truehart

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April 28, 2022

Students from Timberlane Middle School gathered today to honor Friday Truehart. This is the capstone of work they have been doing this spring with the Witness Stones Project. The have shared their work on their website. We invite you to visit to learn more.

Timberlane Middle School to Hold Ceremony Honoring Enslaved People

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From CentralJersey.com on March 15, 2022

Timberlane Middle School (TMS) will hold the first-ever Witness Stones ceremony in the state on April 28.

TMS, located in the Hopewell Valley Regional School District in Pennington, will host the ceremony from 9:30-10:45 a.m. at the Hopewell Old School Baptist Meeting House, 46-48 W. Broad St., Hopewell.

Continue reading.

Timberlane Students Will Be First in New Jersey to Undertake a Witness Stones Project

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By MercerMe Community Contributor on March 10, 2022

 

Timberlane Middle School will hold the first annual Witness Stones ceremony on Thursday, April 28, 2022 from 9:30am to 10:45am at the Hopewell Old School Baptist Meeting House at 46-48 W Broad St, Hopewell, NJ 08525.

Due to the small size of the venue, the event is by invitation only.

The Witness Stones Project, Inc. of Guilford, Ct., seeks to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities. The Project provides research assistance, teacher development, and curriculum support to help middle school students study the history of slavery in their own communities. The students explore the lives of enslaved individuals through primary source documents.

Timberlane students will bring the Hopewell community together to place a Witness Stone (a permanent brass marker) to memorialize an enslaved individual, Friday Truehart, who came to this region with the Reverend Oliver Hart from South Carolina, when he was a thirteen year boy. This stone will honor where Friday lived, worked, and worshiped in the Hopewell region.

At public installation ceremonies, students, faculty, administrators, historians, public officials, local clergy, and the larger community will remember and honor the forgotten through music, poetry, oration, and reflection. The Project’s hope is that the students’ work and the public memorials inspire communities to learn their true history, dismantle current inequities, and build a just future.

The project and event will be completed and organized in conjunction with the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum and its founders, Elaine Buck and Beverly Mills. Timberlane Middle School is proud to be the first school in the state of New Jersey to undertake a Witness Stones Project.

Somerset County Awards Grants to Support Local History Projects

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Somerset County Commissioner Melonie Marano, right, presents a ceremonial grant check to John B. Buck, president of the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum. Also participating in the presention is Cultural & Heritage Commission Program Coordinator Natalie Zaman. Photo: Somerset County, MyCentralJersey.com

By Mike Deak on MyCentralJersey.com on April 18, 2021

The Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum – General operating funds will aid in the maintenance, enrichment and expansion of programs and outreach, including planning for a new Education and Exhibit Center on the top of Sourland Mountain in Hillsborough, virtual programming for signature events and enhancing the Sourland African American History Trail with an expanded map and signage. The grant will also support the creation of a new program, the Witness Stones Project, which will be brought to area schools. Continue reading.

Curriculum Design and Memorials with Witness Stones

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From the Anti-Racist Teaching & Learning Collective on March 22, 2021

The Witness Stones Project began in 2017 in Guilford, Connecticut with the placement of three small plaques commemorating the lives of Moses, Candace, and Phillis. The project was inspired by the Stolpersteine project, which works to place small stones inscribed with the names and life details of Jews who were kidnapped and murdered during the Holocaust in front of the homes in which they used to live. Witness Stones has been working to memorialize enslaved individuals in several cities across Connecticut in a similar way. Continue reading.

 

Witness Stones Project to Partner with Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum to Recover the History of the Enslaved

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SSAAM Logo

The Witness Stones Project, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities, today announced a new affiliation with the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum in Skillman, New Jersey. The Museum will be supporting the introduction of the Project’s curriculum and landscape markers into the Hopewell Valley Regional School District. 

Students who are participating in the Project will examine primary source documents, such property, church, and vital records; wills and probate inventories; and census data, in order to understand the reality of slavery and to restore the memory of those individuals who were enslaved. They will learn how to document and describe the dehumanization and paternalism of slavery; the economic and legal framework that supported slavery; and, the agency, resistance, and contributions of the enslaved to our local and national history. Finally, these students will be inviting their communities to witness as they install memorial stones for individuals who were enslaved in their town. 

The mission of the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum is to tell the story of the unique culture, experiences, and contributions of the African American community of the Sourland Mountain Region.

 

 

 

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