New Jersey’s newest state holiday - Juneteenth, commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. Join us in a conversation exploring the people, laws, and economic leaders that kept African Americans enslaved in New Jersey until 1865. The panel will feature Dr. James Amemasor, “Will Likely Endeavor to Pass for Free’: Runaway Slave Advertisements in New Jersey Newspapers, 1777-1808,” and Dr. James J. Gigantino, "The Ragged Road to Abolition: Slavery and Freedom in New Jersey, 1775-1865." Newark artist, historian and curator Noelle Lorraine Williams, Director, African American History Program at the New Jersey Historical Commission will moderate the discussion. This Juneteenth program is the kickoff of the New Jersey Historical Commission’s virtual series “Black Is: African American History and Sites in New Jersey.”