New Jersey Witness Stone Affiliate Set to Expand
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Friday Truehart, Once Enslaved in Hopewell, Commemorated in Witness Stone Project Ceremony
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
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.