Stoutsburg Sourland
African American Museum

Blacks and slaves, the more they found documents as shocking as runaway slave notices, wills that bequeathed their ancestors names next to spoons or signed Revolutionary war papers of Black soldiers who hailed from the Sourland Mountain region--and yet no historic markers graced their memory.

 

As I grasped the magnitude of their research--and their vision to bring centuries of untold local history to light in manuscript form and hopefully get into the hands of school children and their parents, I realized Bev and Elaine had no written material yet.  Yet from our first call and subsequent meetings, I could already feel their powerful voices. They then invited me to their popular powerpoint presentation at the Hopewell Train Station-- A Proud Heritage--where I saw their knack for historical research and storytelling in action.

 

But I had to  tell Elaine and Beverly what I have to tell all potential authors and clients as a small company--that it will take a lot of time, money and hard work to bring their book to publication and raise  visibility on their project. They were not daunted and began fundraising right away!

 

Of course, they’ve been working with the Sourland Conservancy and Stoutsburg Cemetery on bringing Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum to life at the same time they’ve been writing their book. They bring new meaning to the word tireless! The museum will be such an important component of completing local history perceptions and creating essential learning experiences for the public.

 

How was the book created and developed?

I mentioned this in my speech at the Grounds for Sculpture and I meant it. Working with Elaine and Bev was like pulling marathon work-sessions with your best friends. They cooked me soup and fed me bagels at Elaine’s house as we spread papers over the table, made phone calls and set up interviews and dove into their research.  

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We went through boxes of papers and links and a mountain of Google docs that became gigantic puzzles. We wrote and rewrote outlines and bibliographies and drafted a writing plan that excitingly turned into formal chapters with the help of a research librarian and highly talented genealogist who helped us wrestle with those gigantic puzzles, Hope Tillman.  

 

After that, we began more work with the professional historian I named above, Emma.  She is co-author of The Struggle for Freedom: A History of African Americans. When the manuscript was finished, Emma contributed a moving foreword. Here are a few of her words:

 

Elaine and Bev’s story is about both race-based pain and interracial triumph; it’s about pettiness and greed and prejudice and ignorance and exclusion. But it’s also about teamwork and mutual human concern, and about the intricacies of family life among and between White and Black Americans, stretching from the eighteenth and nineteenth century into the twenty-first century….

 

How did the book signing event at Grounds for Sculpture come together? 

 

With the history of the Sankofa Symposiums at the Grounds for Sculpture, which are an incredible statewide initiative everyone should know about so I am linking our last press release about it. 

 

Bev and Elaine came up with the concept of  having their launch there to celebrate all the many contributors and supporters to their work. The Grounds for Sculpture has been incredibly supportive of Bev and Elaine--and it felt so perfect to launch there.  

 

Beverly and Elaine put the evening program together to include two people from whom they learned much and were inspired by: Marion T. Lane and Joyce Mosley, both of whom have important stories to tell.   They also asked two excellent speakers to read from the book: Ivey Avery, who is renowned for her reenactments of characters like Harriet Tubman, and Joyce Yon. Hearing Ivey and Joyce read the chapters was powerful for me.

I also loved the moment when Beverly and Elaine named all of the attending Sourland family members representing the “Resident Voices,” an entire chapter in the book. The whole launch evening had a warm glow to it--and I’m so honored to have been a part of it. The excitement, love and overflowing support for Beverly and Elaine and for If These Stones Could Talk seemed palpable in the air. Indeed, it was was fitting that Beverly and Elaine ended the event by singing a spiritual.