 The collection includes books, newspapers, documents, photographs and memorabilia regarding African American history and information about the slave trade in New Jersey, the underground railroad, a replica of an urban 1930s kitchen, the Pullman Porters (a black labor union), the Civil Rights Movement, the NAACP in New Jersey, New Jersey"s historic African American churches, and genealogical records.The heritage of Jersey City's African American community has been collected and preserved in a special collection, including the city's earliest black residents (in the 17th century Bergen, New Netherland settlement), its role in the Underground Railroad, and the civil rights movement, including Martin Luther King's appearances.Begun as a grass-roots committee in the 1970s, the Afro-American Historical Society was formed by Captain Thomas Taylor (president of the Jersey City branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), Theodore Brunson, (lay historian in Afro-American history), Mrs. Nora Fant (long time and activist resident of Jersey City), and Mrs. Virginia Dunnaway (community worker and teacher).