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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.

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.