TZEDEK INITIATIVE Commemorating Juneteenth Shabbat

As the CAI Tzedek Initiative continues its mission to pursue and promote social justice and racial equality through listening and learning, community building, and advocacy and activism, plans are coming together for its third annual Juneteenth Shabbat. Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. The actual date, June 19, is the day enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, learned they were free, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in secessionist states, leaving slavery legal in a few northern states. While slavery was outlawed in New Jersey in 1846, remaining slaves were redefined as "apprenticed for life" to their masters. The final 16 slaves in the state were not freed until passage of the 13th Amendment — abolishing slavery in the U.S. — in December 1865. Among the last slaves in Essex County was a 72-year-old Black man owned by a Caldwell resident, Jonathan Beach. West Essex has historic ties to one of the more interesting stories surrounding the freeing of a slave, a story that is in the news today. James Howe, a young Black slave, was purchased for $50 in the early 1800s by Nathaniel Crane, an abolitionist descendant of the founder of Montclair (originally named Cranetown). When Crane died in the 1830s, his will freed Howe, who was blind, and gave him $600; Crane's "five best acres”; a mill property in Caldwell called Crane's Mill; and a ferry business in the Meadowlands. This made Howe the first Black landowner in West Essex. Included in the property was a tiny 18thcentury house at what is now 369 Claremont Ave. in Montclair. Howe’s descendants lived there until the 1950s. Last year, the Howe house was put on the market. Thanks to a lastminute fund-raising effort, it was purchased by a group intent on preserving the building and its history.

On Friday, June 16, the Tzedek Initiative will host at CAI, in partnership with the First Presbyterian Church at Caldwell Mission Committee’s Facing Racism Task Force, its third annual Juneteenth Shabbat Dinner. The Friends of the Howe House will lead a program on James Howe and the African-American history of West Essex. It is our hope to create a closer link between our daily lives and local African-American history. Look for registration information appearing soon in the weekly CAI emails.

For more information on the Tzedek Initiative, please reach out to Debbie Rosen, Debby Miller, Ruth Jaffe, or Morris Lewis.

Morris Lewis is a cochair of the Tzedek Initiative.

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On Sunday, May 21, The Tzedek Initiative and CAI's Adult Education Dept will screen the documentary film, "The Janes" in the Adult Lounge. All are invited for pizza dinner and the screening followed by a discussion with Susan Werk, Natalie Peck and Rabbi Michael Monson.