New Jersey Underground Railroad camp brings history to life for students

A South Jersey summer camp is bringing Black history to life through hands-on learning centered on the Underground Railroad.

The Lawnside Historical Society kicked off its Underground Railroad summer camp Monday, giving middle school students the opportunity to visit sites tied to the fight for freedom and learn beyond the classroom.

“I was excited,” 10-year-old summer camper Harlan Jenifer III from Lawnside said. “I was happy to learn about my heritage and history.”

On Day 1, the Lawnside Historical Society brought students to the home of Peter Mott, a free Black man who opened his house as a place of refuge for freedom seekers escaping enslavement.

“The most interesting thing I learned so far was that this house was in Lawnside,” 13-year-old summer camper Stacey Johnson from Somerdale said. “I didn’t realize that the Underground Railroad was connected to New Jersey at all at one point.”

The weeklong camp includes scavenger hunts, tours and writing activities designed to deepen students’ understanding of what they learn in school.

“You will not find Peter Mott’s name most likely in the history books, but I want students to know that Lawnside, alongside Free Haven and Snow Hill, had a big part in the Underground Railroad,” Joyce Fowler, vice president of the Lawnside Historical Society, said.

Camp leaders said the program goes beyond traditional classroom lessons, highlighting details such as coded communication and the ways enslaved people navigated their journey to freedom.

“A lot of times the teachers don’t go into the study of the communication that enhanced and actually had to do with the struggle for freedom,” camp director Jacqueline Miller Bentley said.

Throughout the week, students will visit additional Underground Railroad sites across South Jersey, including Mt. Zion AME Church in Woolwich, Gloucester County, and museums.

Harlan said the camp has already changed his perspective.

“I just thought it was a history of something that was back in the past that I didn’t need to care about,” Harland said. “But right now, it’s making me want to learn more about it.”

The camp runs through Friday, when students will present paintings, poems and other creative projects inspired by what they’ve learned.