Lawnside, New Jersey : A Story of an African American Culture and Oral History

Culture, symbols, and folklore are essential attributes of a people and their citizenry. Such is the case with Lawnside, a predominantly Black community based in the southwestern region of New Jersey. As the first all Black settlement in the state of New Jersey that was incorporated as a borough in 1926, Lawnside reveals a rich history of Africana culture. The municipality of Lawnside exhibits the importance of heritage and oral history-as it pertains to New Jersey historiography. Themes and patterns in African American history that include New Jersey are tenacity, adversity, struggle, and the pursuit to locate the middle colony in the public sphere of Americana society. On the other hand, the preparation and interpretation of Black nationalist history in Lawnside provide an alternative worldview of the Africana experience. This study sets forth two central objectives: (1) to examine chronologically and conceptually the historic and cultural dimensions of Lawnside; and (2) to explore and study the nature, function, and agency of an autonomous Black community. The themes of culture, memory, and African American oral-history in Lawnside which are explored in this study enhance knowledge about Lawnside and the state of New Jersey in general. In summary, Lawnside's history and racial memory is significant to the advancement of local, state, and national Africana historiography.Conyers, James L., Jr. is the author of 'Lawnside, New Jersey : A Story of an African American Culture and Oral History' with ISBN 9781592212897 and ISBN 1592212891.