“The Price of Silence” Film Screening and Discussion

Please join the New Jersey State Library in celebrating Black History Month on Saturday, February 21st, 2026, for a screening of the 3-part, New York Emmy Award-nominated PBS documentary “The Price of Silence” from 12:00-2:00 p.m. at the NJ State Museum Auditorium in Trenton, NJ.

Part one of the documentary, “The Forgotten Story of New Jersey’s Enslaved People,” begins the series with the stunning fact that by the time New Jersey started the slow process of abolishing slavery in 1804, the state had 12,000 men, women, and children in bondage. The film reveals that New Jersey depended profoundly on enslaved people to drive agricultural and economic growth, was sympathetic to the South, and was the last of the Northeastern states to eliminate this heinous practice.

Upon conclusion of the screening, there will be a panel discussion with producer Ridgeley Hutchinson and documentary contributors Dr. Linda J. Caldwell Epps, Beverly Mills, Toni Hendrix, Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter, and Dr. Damali Campbell-Oparaji.