UNDERGROUND RAILROAD HISTORY DAY At the Camden County Historical Society Photos by Hoag Levins Read Main Story: New Jersey's Underground Railroad Myth-Buster CAMDEN, N.J. (June 4, 2001) -- Giles R. Wright, director of the New Jersey Historical Commission's Afro-American History Program, was the featured speaker (above, left) at Saturday's session on the underground railroad co-sponsored by the Camden County Historical Society and the Camden County Cultural & Heritage Commission. Barbara Smith, an aide to Camden Mayor Gwendolyn A. Faison and a member of the gospel group, Voices of the City, gave a solo a cappella performance (above, right) that brought rousing applause. LISTEN to Smith sing. Wright, who is conducting extensive research of underground railroad activities throughout the state, provided a sweeping narrative of 170 years of the region's black history. Above, left, he displays an illustration of Jane Johnson's rescue on a Camden and Amboy ferry at the Delaware River pier. A slave brought north as a servant by her North Carolina owner, she learned that once in the "free soil" states of Pennsylvania or New Jersey, she and her two children could walk away, free. Above, right, Wright shows a photo of Lawnside's Peter Mott house, which was a station on the underground railroad and is currently being refurbished as a museum. Prepared by the Camden County Historical Society's staff of volunteers, refreshments at the event in the Society's Camden headquarters included a crystal punch bowl of pink lemonade with a fruit-molded ice ring, and a variety of pastries. The Society's two-story museum wing and eighteenth-century Pomona Hall were also open for tours as part of the day's activities.