Assembled over a 13 year period by Wendel A. White, the 70 exhibition photographs depict individuals, families, neighborhoods and communities. The AKMP installation adds historic and contemporary African American connections that have existed between these towns and Philadelphia since the 17th century. Small Towns, Black Lives will run through April 25, 2005 at the Museum Building, 15 South Seventh Street.

On exhibition are 70 black and white photographs with accompanying texts, assembled by photographer Wendel A. White.  The photographs capture White's 13 year exploration (1989-2002) of ten rural, southern New Jersey towns:

Port Republic, Morris Beach, Whitesboro, Gouldtown, Springtown, Swedesboro/Small Gloucester, Elsmere, Lawnside, Chesilhurst and Newtonville.

Most of these towns were founded by African Americans in the 19th century, but have been almost invisible even to scholars until now.  The exhibition draws on historical material to address the collective spirit integral to the black community. 

Small Towns, Black Lives is a loan exhibition organized by The Noyes Museum of Art in Oceanville, N.J., in cooperation with Wendel A. White.  Curated by Charles Ashley Stainback, the exhibition includes essays from Stedman Graham, Clement Alexander Price and Deborah Willis.  Small Towns is circulated by The Exhibition Alliance, Inc., Hamilton, N.Y.  In 2003, it was exhibited at the Noyes Museum of Art, Oceanville, N.J.; Johnson and Johnson, New Brunswick, N.J.; and Morris Museum, Morristown, N.J.  This is the first installation to draw connections to the African American community in Philadelphia.

Religious connections exist between faith communities that were established in Philadelphia and then moved or expanded into South Jersey.  The founder and pastor of Philadelphia's Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, Bishop Richard Allen (1760-1881), established AME churches and surrounding communities throughout South Jersey.  Small Towns exhibits several of these churches, including Mt. Pisgah AME Church in Lawnside, the burial site of Jarena Lee (1783-1849) who was the first woman to preach from the pulpit of both Mother Bethel and Mt Pisgah.

Another example of these connections is a photograph on view of the Peter Mott House, which was established in New Jersey before the Civil War as a safe haven for runaway slaves.  The Mott House is unique as an Underground Railroad site owned by a free black man.  The oldest site in Lawnside, New Jersey, the Mott house fits contextually with other safe havens purchased by Philadelphia Quakers in South Jersey. 

William Still (1821-1902) purchased his freedom from slavery and established a successful coal business in Philadelphia during the Civil War.  He channeled his economic success into his role as a community leader by establishing an orphanage and the first African American YMCA in Philadelphia, and by maintaining homes in Lawnside, Springtown and Swedesboro, New Jersey that were major stops on the Underground Railroad.  A descendent of William Still, Clifford Still is pictured in the Lawnside section of the exhibition.

About Photographer Wendel A. White

Wendel A. White was born in 1956 in Newark, N.J. and was raised in New York City, Philadelphia and New Jersey.  He holds a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Texas at Austin and has been on the faculty of Stockton State College since 1986.  His work is extensively exhibited and collected and he serves on photography organizations and community boards in New Jersey and nationally.