Presented live on Zoom by Historian Sue Kozel

Enslaved woman Wench Betty was murdered in 1784 and the subsequent court proceedings for her murder were held that year. 

The presentation will reveal powerful Revolutionary War ideas of freedom and liberty at a time when slavery still existed in New Jersey, narrated by Sue Kozel using court documents, coroner’s reports, and slaveowners’ records. Kozel taught at Kean University and has been designated as a Public Scholar by the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. She has co-edited a book on Quakers and abolition, and published numerous works on Black freedom, abolitionism, and American and New Jersey history.

About the presenter: Sue Kozel (MA, History, NYU; MA, Labor Relations, Rutgers University; BA, History and Labor Studies, Livingston College/Rutgers) formerly served as an adjunct history professor at several NJ colleges including Kean University and William Paterson. She was also an Assistant Adjunct Professor at Mercer County Community College. Ms. Kozel’s primary areas of research include NJ Quakers, enslavement, and abolition movements. She has published several scholarly articles on NJ history; and most recently (together with Maurice Jackson of Georgetown University) co-edited the book Quakers and Their Allies in the Abolitionist Cause, 1754-1808, released in Europe in July, 2015, and released in the US in September, 2015). Ms. Kozel also authored a chapter for the book that focuses on NJ Quaker, Richard Waln, and his abolitionist activities in the state, and co-wrote the introduction with Maurice Jackson.

Historically Speaking is a co-sponsored program, presented with the Monmouth County Historical Association, a non-profit organization, which collects, preserves, and interprets its extensive museum, research library, and archival collections that relate to Monmouth County’s history and culture and makes these resources available to the widest possible audience. Find them on MonmouthHistory.org