The Brookdale Slavery Project

Christopher P. Barton is an archaeologist and adjunct instructor at Monmouth University, specializing in the historical archaeology of race, class, and social activism. He earned his Ph.D. in anthropology and archaeology from Temple University. Dr. Barton’s published works include the monographs The Archaeology of Race and Class at Timbuctoo: A Black Community in New Jersey, and Historical Racialized Toys in the United States, as well as the edited volume From the Trowels to the Trenches: Archaeology as Social Activism. His research and community collaborations explore descendant-engaged archaeologies across along the East Coast.

Michael J. Gall is a Principal Senior Archaeologist at Richard Grubb & Associates, Inc., a cultural resource management firm in Cranbury, New Jersey, and a board member with the Archaeological Society of New Jersey and the Dr. James Still Historic Office Site Association. Since 2021, he has been Editor of Bulletin of the Archaeological Society of New Jersey, an annual journal. He has conducted archaeology in the Northeast and Middle Atlantic regions since 1997, where he has identified and recorded over 200 archaeological sites. His research foci include: the archaeology of landscape and settlement patterns, expressions of everyday religion through land use and material culture, industrial development and labor communities, enslaved individuals and families, and free African American households in the Middle Atlantic and Northeast regions. His research is regularly published in peer reviewed journals like Historical Archaeology and Northeast Historical Archaeology, non-refereed journals, and in edited books. Michael is a co-editor of Archaeologies of African American Life in the Upper Middle Atlantic (2017), which received a Choice award for outstanding title, and is a co-author of The Archaeology of American Religions and Spirituality, scheduled to be in print in the Fall of 2027.

Kate Gulick-Tuers is a Data and Outreach Services Archivist at the New Jersey State Archives. She primarily works with colonial-era land and court records, and has a particular interest in New Jersey’s cultural history. She earned her MLIS from Simmons University and her BA in History from Connecticut College.

Dana Howell is an archivist, historian, and the director of education at the Monmouth County Historical Association. She holds a BA from Rutgers University in Psychology and History, post-baccalaureate certifications in both education and Archival Studies, and an MA in American History from Gettysburg College. She served as the MCHA archivist for several years, during which time her focus was education-driven. She created the Digital Diversity Oral History Project with her colleague, Joe Zemla, to proactively document the history of our underrepresented communities, and began the Remembering Covid-19 project, one of the first crowd-sourced pandemic documentation projects launched in the country. Dana continues to promote MCHA as a premiere education resource for Monmouth County history.

Mary Hussey is a Research Archivist at the Monmouth County Archives in Manalapan, NJ. She started as a volunteer in 2012 and has been working for the County since 2015.Her primary work is assisting patrons with a variety of inquiries, as well as processing and managing collections. Mary recently completed the Lynne Klemens Enslaved Person Collection. She has a B.A. in Early American History and a Master’s in Library Science and Archival Studies. She was born and raised in Middletown.

Matthew A. Kalos is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Human Geography at Brookdale Community College. He earned his PhD in Anthropology from Temple University, where he wrote his dissertation on the Battle of Paoli, located in Malvern, PA. The focus of his research centers on the interpretation of memory and mnemonic landscapes associated with the American Revolution. In addition to studying the Paoli Battlefield, Dr. Kalos worked for the National Park Service at Valley Forge National Historical Park for six years, where he led public archaeology programs. Recently, Dr. Kalos co-edited (with Dr. Richard Veit) the volume The Archaeology of the American Revolution (2025). He has given numerous public presentations on the Archaeology of the American Revolution, including Pennsylvania Cable Network’s series “Battlefield Pennsylvania” and TEDx.

Sue Kozel is a graduate of Rutgers University (B.A. & M.A.) and New York University (M.A.), Historian Sue Kozel has dedicated the last twenty-five years to researching Quaker History, African American History, and documenting freedom from enslavement in Western Monmouth County. Having taught for nearly fourteen years at New Jersey Community Colleges and Universities before she retired, Sue brought her hidden histories to classrooms. Selected by the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic for and NEH Landmark Seminar, Sue received grants from the New Jersey Historical Commission and the New Jersey Council for Humanities, and a prestigious fellowship by the International Center for Jefferson Studies, affiliated with Thomas Jeffersion’s Monticello. Sue addressed ethics, religion, liberty, African American enslavement, and/or freedom in publications including a co-edited book, book chapters, academic journal articles, and book reviews, and her national and international conference presentations. Her New Jersey stories included the murder “Wench Betty,” an enslaved Upper Freehold woman killed by her owner, the abolitionist work of local Quaker Richard Waln, and now the “Say Our Names” Project that excavated 2,900 African Americans in various records for Allentown and Upper Freehold from 1770–1839.

Jess Le Vine is a full Professor of History at Brookdale Community College and holds a B.A. From Colgate University and an M.A. From The University of California at Santa Barbara. He teaches courses in American and World Civilization, Vietnam, New Jersey History, Native American Studies and The History of Rock N Roll. In the past, he has served on educational advisory boards at the Monmouth County Historical Association and The New Jersey Vietnam Memorial. The author Tim O’Brien and the documentarian Ken Burns are among the distinguished contributors to our historical bank of knowledge that he has brought here to Brookdale and interviewed. His latest project involves land acknowledgment for the Lenape Native Americans.

Richard Veit, Ph.D. is Professor of Anthropology and Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Monmouth University. A North American historical archaeologist, his research focuses on the colonial Middle Atlantic Region. He is the author, co-author or editor of ten books and has been the recipient of Monmouth University’s distinguished teacher award.

Joe Zemla is currently the senior curator at the Monmouth County Historical Association (MCHA), which operates a museum and archives in Freehold in addition to four historic house museums throughout the county. Along with MCHA Director of Collections Bernadette Rogoff, Joe researched and installed the permanent exhibition Beneath the Floorboards: Whispers of the Enslaved at Marlpit Hall, two-time winner of the New Jersey Historical Commission’s annual Giles R. Wright Award. The exhibition presents a reinterpretation of the c. 1760 farmhouse in Middletown from the perspective of the enslaved men, women, and children who once resided there, while exploring the often-overlooked topic of slavery in New Jersey. Joe currently serves as a Board member for the New Jersey Association of Museums (NJAM), and as a New Jersey representative for the Northeast Slavery Records Database, hosted by John Jay College. Joe holds a Bachelor’s degree in American Studies from Rutgers University, and a Master’s in Museum Studies from the Harvard Extension School.

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