Black History Month In Montclair: Friends Of Howe House To Hold Event

MONTCLAIR, NJ — The Friends of the Howe House will hold an authors’ conversation on the theme of "Finding Our Way Home" at Montclair Public Library on Friday, Feb. 23.

Click here for a flyer for the event and a photo of the Howe House.

According to a news release, authors attending the event will include:

• Award-winning novelist Cleyvis Natera, whose debut, Neruda on the Park, won a Silver Medal at the International Latino Book Awards last year
• Dionne Ford, author of the memoir Go Back and Get It, and co-editor of the anthology Slavery's Descendants: Shared Legacies of Race and Reconciliation
• Maisy Card, author of the novel These Ghosts Are Family, which won an American Book Award, the 2021 OCM Bocas Prize in fiction
• Kim Coleman Foote, author of the debut novel Coleman Hill, which fictionalizes her family’s Great Migration experience

The event will be held at 50 South Fullerton Avenue, Montclair from 7 to 9.25 p.m., with light refreshments served. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased here.

The event during Black History Month comes a year after the Friends of the Howe House became owners of the home on Claremont Street owned by James Howe, the first former enslaved person to own property in Montclair.

“The authors’ conversation will be an important moment for the Friends of the Howe House and our supporters to reflect on the past year when much has been achieved,” Kimberly Latortue, president of Friends of the Howe House said.

“These esteemed authors will help us understand how important it is to work hard to ensure the future of our shared history in New Jersey,” Latortue said.

“It’s been a busy year for the Friends of the Howe House and this will be a busy year too,” said Aminah Toler, chair of Friends of the Howe House.

“We aim to keep the conversation going in Montclair and beyond about the how special the Howe House is and how vital it is for communities to come together and preserve our history for future generations,” Toler said.

Friends of the Howe House have been involved in fundraising – and awareness-raising – since being awarded charitable status. There’s now a push to gain national historic status for the property, the group said.

Events held over the year included an art evening at the One River Art School, an art auction at the Gallery at Berkshire Hathaway in Montclair, a party at the Montclair Brewery with the launch of a Howe House beer and panel discussions.

The Howe House was bought for more than $400,000 in a dramatic bid to save the historic home in December by Friends of the Howe House.

James Howe worked as an enslaved man for Major Nathanial Crane in the early 1800s. After years of slavery, Crane ended Howe’s enslavement and in his 1831 will, Crane left Howe the house, $400, and approximately six acres of land.

Local groups involved in Friends of the Howe House include the Montclair African-American Heritage Foundation, Montclair Chapter of the NAACP, Montclair Mutual Aid, St. Marks Montclair, and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair.

Anyone seeking to get involved in fundraising, volunteering or donations in-kind can reach out to info@friendsofthehowehouse.org.

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