By Donald Gilpin

Joint Effort Safe Streets 2023, a 10-day celebration of Princeton’s Black community, will be opening on a festive note on Friday, August 4 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at Studio Hillier on Witherspoon Street.

Featured events in Friday’s kick-off program will include a special salute to Mamie Oldham and the late Barbara Hillier, recipients of the Jim Floyd Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award; presentation of the Mildred Trotman Community Service Award to Princeton Public Schools Superintendent Carol Kelley; and recognition of Witherspoon Jackson resident and four-time recipient of a Joint Effort Book Scholarship Hailey Young, who graduated from Brown University in May and will be traveling to Botswana in January on a Fulbright Program grant. There will also be remarks by Princeton Mayor Mark Freda and other local officials; acknowledgements of the ancestors and angels by Princeton Councilman Leighton Newlin and Witherspoon-Jackson Historical and Cultural  Society President Shirley Satterfield; and a vision for the future of Witherspoon Street presented by architect and Studio Hillier principal Bob Hillier (a Town Topics shareholder).

“The whole thing is about acknowledging the contributions of the African American community in Princeton — recognizing some folks we’ll be honoring and dedicating the event to and talking a bit about growing up in the neighborhood and why we chose that theme,” said Safe Streets Founder and Event Coordinator John Bailey.

Young, a 2019 Princeton Day School graduate, is the daughter of Birch Avenue residents Darius and Tracy Young. A creative writing major with a minor in Africana Studies at Brown, Young will be going to Botswana in January, where she will be teaching English to elementary or middle school children for the following 10 months.

On Saturday, August 5, which is Betsey Stockton and Laura Wooten Day, Joint Effort will sponsor a community discussion at the First Baptist Church of Princeton focused on the question “Do Black Lives Still Matter?”

With a panel of individuals who grew up in the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood, as well as educators, local officials, and other Princeton residents,

the discussion will be  “an opportunity to huddle up and compare notes on what is and what’s not happening for African American citizens — not only in Princeton, Mercer County, and New Jersey, but around the country — and getting some divergent points of view based on the theme of growing up in the neighborhood,” according to Bailey.

Citing a nationwide pullback from commitments made to African American communities and organizations, Bailey continued, “Here’s an opportunity to talk about Paul Robeson and Black history; about racism; about whether Black lives still matter; about trust, truth, transparency, and social equity.”

Two legendary figures connected to Princeton will be celebrated: Betsey Stockton, who was enslaved as a child in the household of Princeton University President Ashbel Green in the early 19th century and later became a prominent educator; and Laura Wooten, who died in 2019, a longtime Princeton resident and the longest-serving election poll worker in the United States — 79 continuous years. 

The panelists on Saturday will include Not In Our Town members Caroline Clark and Linda Oppenheim, Princeton Public Schools Science Supervisor Joy Barnes-Johnson, West Windsor Councilman Martin Whitfield, and, among those who grew up in the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood, MuDeen Boyer, Princeton Middle School teacher Jason Carter, Princeton Councilman Leighton Newlin, retired corrections administrator Grace Kimbrough, Sharon Campbell, and Satterfield.

The Joint Effort events will continue on Sunday, August 6 with Harold Waxwood Day from 5 to 7 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Princeton with a Gospel Festival and Black Family Recognition. The festival will feature a tribute to 12 local Black families, reflections on growing up in the neighborhood by Evelyn Counts, a poem for the occasion by Second Cavalry Baptist Church Pastor Gregory Smith, and musical selections by the First Baptist Church Choir, Sam Frisby and Friends, Karen Yvette Jones, Dennis Rogers, Jennifer Bell, and Westminster Choir College Professor G. Preston Wilson Jr.

Bailey shared some thoughts about the role that gospel music plays in delivering a message to Black people. “That caused me to think not only about my ancestors, but also about Jewish ancestors and Native American ancestors,” he said, reflecting on what it means to be an American at this point in time  “We all have a commonality in pain,” he said, “but the potential for human gain here is important, and gospel music is one of the ways I’ve tried to enhance, commemorate, and encourage my folks. There’s a message in the music.”

Howard Waxwood grew up in Princeton and graduated from Princeton High School and then Rutgers University in the 1920s. He returned to serve as principal of Princeton schools before and after integration. The Waxwood, an apartment building on Quarry Street, was named in his honor.

The Arts Council of Princeton (ACP) will be the location for events on Tuesday, August 8, Albert Hinds Day, with a 6 p.m. community discussion on diversity, equity, inclusion, and the future of Princeton and Mercer County.  “I wanted to see and discuss with leaders, people of influence, people who make decisions, people who can make a difference, their thoughts about the importance of examples,” said Bailey. He noted the recent Supreme Court decision on race-based admissions and the current controversy over legacy college admissions. He cited Princeton University’s commitment to move towards a more diverse student population, the hiring of a Black athletic director at Princeton, and Princeton Public Schools’ African American superintendent as “instances of doing the right things” in terms of providing role models for African Americans.

Bailey pointed out that one of the discussion leaders, New Jersey Assemblyman and candidate for Mercer County Executive Dan Benson, has emphasized diversity, equity, and inclusiveness at the county level, seeking to make all citizens and municipalities feel wanted and respected in the county.

In addition to Benson, the leaders and panelists for that discussion include Barbara Lawrence, formerly vice president and chief diversity officer at Rider University, currently vice president of diversity, equity, inclusion, access and belonging at the University of New Haven;  New Jersey African American Chamber of Commerce Vice President Phil Woolfolk; Mercer County Community College President Deborah Preston; Mercer County Commissioner Sam Frisby; Sustainable Princeton Executive Director Christine Symington; Princeton Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce President Hal English; Princeton Future Founder Sheldon Sturges; former Princeton Councilman Lance Liverman; Princeton Councilman Leighton Newlin; JZ Architect and Design Principal Josh Zinder; Princeton Council President Mia Sacks; and former Trenton mayor and principal at Palmer and Associates Douglas H. Palmer.

Albert Hinds, who gave his name to Hinds Plaza in Princeton, was a leader and local historian in the Black community, a legendary presence who lived 104 years in Princeton until his death in 2006.

Joint Effort events later in the week next week include Jim Floyd and Romus Broadway Day at the ACP on Wednesday with an art exhibit, recognition of the Broadway family, discussions, reflections on growing up in the Witherspoon-Jackson community, and presentation of book scholarships to local students.

Paul Bustill Robeson Day on Saturday morning, August 12, at the First Baptist Church of Princeton, will feature a community discussion and a candidate forum, followed by a community block festival Saturday afternoon on the YMCA field. The Joint Effort and Bailey Basketball Academy Youth Hoops Clinic will also take place on August 12 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Community Park basketball courts.

On Sunday, August 13, the Pete Young Sr. Memorial Basketball Games will wrap up Joint Effort Safe Streets with an array of games all day for all ages on the Community Park basketball courts.

“John Bailey’s Joint Effort Witherspoon-Jackson Community Princeton Safe Streets program has existed for decades,” wrote Freda. “It is an ongoing effort to unite community members through activities, forums, and sports in numerous locations in Princeton. I will be able to attend a number of these events, and I hope members of the community will try to attend some of these also.”

For more information visit artscouncilofprinceton.org/safestreets.