In collaboration with the Newark History Society join us for a day of music, art, and history celebrating Cudjo Banquante, Revolutionary soldier and Newark’s first Black entrepreneur.
Events include:
- Musical performance by Courtney Bryan and friends; Pianist, composer, and a 2023 MacArthur Fellow, Bryan will debut a new musical piece composed in honor of Cudjo.
- Performance by Black Revolutionary soldier reenactor Noah Lewis
- Debut of John Phillip Osborne’s Heat of the Battle, a newly commissioned oil painting depicting Cudjo at the Battle of Monmouth. On long-term view in NMOA’s Seeing America galleries
- Book signing with Kofi Ayim, author of Jack Cudjo: Newark’s Revolutionary Soldier & First Black Businessman
- Meet the collaborating artists and historians in the galleries
- Adinkra workshop for children and families
Location: Engelhard Court
The event is free with Museum admission but registration is required
This celebration kicks off a full week of public events, more details here Honoring Cudjo Banquante!
Cudjo Banquante was born in the 1720s in the Gold Coast (now Ghana), West Africa to a family of royal heritage. As a youth, he was enslaved by the wealthy Coe family of Newark, New Jersey. During the American Revolution, Benjamin Coe sent Cudjo to fight as a substitute for himself in the war against the British. Cudjo served in the Essex County and Morris County militias, taking part in the Battles of Monmouth and Germantown. He was with George Washington at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777 and later served with General Sullivan at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781.
Exclusively for Members
Free!