Morris County Library Features "The Ties That Bind'' Exhibit During Black History Month

Published on February 04, 2019

The Morris County Heritage Commission and the Morris County Library are jointly presenting "The Ties that Bind: How Race Relations Shaped Morris County and New Jersey, 1688 €“ 2018: Bethel AME Church Exhibition'' at the County Library in Hanover Township for the month of February, during Black History Month.

(JPG, 9KB)The series of panels on display at the County Library explore New Jersey's history of enslavement of African Americans and the development of free black communities. The exhibit looks at how black and white residents either helped each other or stood in the way of equality and equity for all.

The panels tell the story of how the black and white community were tied to each other over the course of Morris County's history.

The ties that bind us together as a community can be strong enough to encourage cooperation, or too tight, leading to conflict. With this exhibit, explore how these ties existed and changed over time in Morris County and New Jersey, and consider how those ties interrelate in today's world.

This exhibition is in collaboration with Bethel AME Church of Morristown, which celebrated its 175th anniversary in 2018.

This exhibit is made possible by a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The exhibition and programming are also made possible thanks to support by the Morris County Heritage Commission's re-grant program.

The Morris County Library is located at 30 East Hanover Ave, Whippany, NJ, directly across the street from the Frelinghuysen Arboretum.