The Search for Freedom in New Jersey

Ridgeley Hutchinson is organizing this fundraiser to benefit Truehart Productions.

Thank you for visiting our GoFundMe site. We're raising money to fund the production of a trailer/promotional film for our next documentary addition to "The Price of Silence" series and any donation will help make an impact.

Truehart Productions ( https://www.truehartproductions.org/ ) is a 501c3 nonprofit corporation established in May 2019, for the exclusive purpose of producing documentary films to educate the community about the scarcely told history of New Jersey's African Americans. Our ultimate goal following the airing of the documentary on NJ's network of public television stations is to incorporate the film into the classroom which we have already been successful in doing with the first two episodes. In fact, "The Forgotten Story of New Jersey's Enslaved People" and The Lasting Impact of Slavery in New Jersey", were such a success that New Jersey's "Teacher of the Year" Theresa Maughn presented them to the NJEA at the 2022 Teacher's Convention in Atlantic City. They are also in such demand that so far they have been shown at major events at multiple schools around the state including, Hopewell Valley School District, Scotch Plains - Fanwood Public Schools, and Teaneck Public Schools.

In the next installment to “The Price of Silence” series we explore the African American flight to New Jersey during the Great Migration. They were in search of a better life that they hoped would be devoid of the racism and discrimination that they were experiencing in the southern states. Not only did Black Americans hope to find better homes to raise their families in, but there was also the promise of employment opportunities in the industries that were prospering in New Jersey after the first and second world wars.

Throughout the migration, wherever black Southerners went, the hostility and hierarchies that fed the Southern caste system seemed to carry over into the receiving cities in the North. Newark and Trenton were no exception as they too erected barriers to black mobility that continued until the early 1960s and beyond. Even in the places where they were permitted, blacks were relegated to the lowest-paying, most dangerous jobs, barred from many unions and, at some companies, hired only as strikebreakers, which served to further divide black workers from white.

In 1916, life in Newark and Trenton changed dramatically. With the United States' entry into the first world war in Europe, both cities with their wealth of industries were called upon to produce a vast variety of war materials. Due in part to the promise of employment, between 1910 and 1930 the black population in New Jersey grew from 89,760 to 208,828, an increase of 132 percent.

Additionally, Black people who migrated during the second phase of the Great Migration following World War II were met with housing discrimination, restrictive covenants and redlining which created segregated neighborhoods. They were confined to the most dilapidated housing in the least desirable sections of the cities to which they fled and this helped fuel the current racial disparities in wealth in New Jersey.

Ultimately, we hope to raise $200,000 to complete the next two episodes we plan to add to our series, "The Price of Silence", which are now publicly available for distribution to schools, universities and NJ Public Broadcasting stations. The trailer we are asking you to help produce is a critical step toward making the full-length films because it validates the project and gives potential donors a visual confirmation of the content and quality of the final product. Won’t you help jumpstart this important project with a donation? No donation is too small, and you can also help spread the word by sharing this page and by inviting your friends on Facebook to like the Truehart Productions page. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100030921742561