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Apps and maps bring the Underground Railroad to life for students in this South Jersey town

Through real assignments and virtual tours, students are discovering sites and burial grounds that made their town, Lawnside, a historic stop on the Underground Railroad.

Researcher and genealogist Shamele Jordon (left) and retired teacher Muneerah Higgs with postcards of historic places in Lawnside. These postcards along with other educational information are being packaged for students learning virtually.
Researcher and genealogist Shamele Jordon (left) and retired teacher Muneerah Higgs with postcards of historic places in Lawnside. These postcards along with other educational information are being packaged for students learning virtually.Read moreALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff Photographer

When genealogist Shamele Jordon wanted to bring history alive for students at the Lawnside Public School, she found the answer right in their backyards.

Students are discovering sites and burial grounds in the South Jersey borough, a stop on the Underground Railroad that sheltered runaway slaves. They are also learning about ancestors and historical figures who developed Lawnside.

Jordon, a researcher, teamed with Muneerah Higgs, a retired Lawnside third-grade social studies teacher, to create a Black History Month project for third to eighth graders called “Visualizing Your Past.” They hope to instill pride by giving students a bird’s-eye view of their history.

“It’s not how history is usually taught,” said Jordon, 54, who lived in Lawnside as a child. Through this project, she said, “history is in your backyard — it’s not just in textbooks.”

Located 13 miles southeast of Philadelphia, Lawnside was settled before the Civil War as “Snow Hill,” a haven for free Black people and runaway slaves on land purchased by abolitionists. The Camden County town later became Lawnside and was incorporated as the first all-Black municipality north of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Each week, Jordon and Higgs prepare a packet of five history cards that students pick up at the school, which has been on remote learning since last spring. The cards depict historical figures, organizations, and sites, such as the Peter Mott House, built around 1845 and the oldest house in Lawnside. Mott, a free man and a preacher, provided refuge for escaped slaves.

Students must take a selfie in front of a historic site or produce a video or a creative document such as a newsletter about the topic. They also get quizzed about the cards each week. Those with the best work will get prizes when the project ends.

During a recent class, students learned about Dr. Roscoe Moore, who helped establish Lawnside’s first Red Cross chapter during World War I and, later as a school physician, administered the smallpox vaccine to students — including Higgs. The 73-year-old retired teacher showed the students a small scar on her arm from the vaccination more than a half-century ago.

“Just like we have a pandemic now and people are getting vaccinated now for the coronavirus,” she explained.

“You met him? No way, cool!” said third grader Ava Wakins.

» READ MORE: South Jersey cemetery for black Civil War veterans has fallen into disrepair; historic site is on endangered list

Some students are descendants of the town’s founding families, like the Stills. Others are newcomers just learning about Lawnside’s storied past and treasures. Three sites in the borough of about 3,000 residents are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and several more are eligible.

“They are doing exactly what we hope to see done to keep the history alive and current,” said Linda Shockley, president of the Lawnside Historical Society.

Jordon, host of the online program Genealogy Quick Start, initially started the project after using genealogy and mapping apps at Mount Peace Cemetery to teach eighth graders. She hopes to share the project with other districts. “This is the history of America,” said Higgs, who has produced documentaries about Lawnside. “It’s from slavery to freedom.”

School Superintendent Ronn Johnson said that students get regular lessons about the town’s founding, but that the project has added a new dimension. “We try to instill pride in them and let them know they’re from a special community,” Johnson said.

Earlier this month, third-grade teacher Patricia Cobia helped her class on a snowy morning by giving them a virtual tour — crisscrossing the 1.5-mile town in her car and making four stops, and asking students watching her livestream to identify her location.

Her first stop was Mount Pisgah AME Church, which began forming in 1782, and where Rev. Jarena Lee, the wife of the church’s pastor, became the first woman in the AME domination allowed to preach after Bishop Richard Allen, founder of Mother Bethel AME Church in Philadelphia, denied her requests for years.

“My grandmother went there,” said one student.

» READ MORE: Walking tour: Harriet Tubman and The Underground Railroad in Philly. Two tours of antislavery sites

Cobia also visited the Mott House, a historic site that was preserved as a museum, and Mount Zion United Methodist Church, which was formed in 1815 by a dozen members who broke away from Mount Pisgah.

When Cobia stopped at Mount Peace Cemetery, where John Lawson and more than 150 Civil War soldiers are buried, Darren Thomas, a third grader, excitedly shared that he was a descendant of Lawson, who received a Medal of Honor for refusing to give up his station aboard the USS Hartford during a fierce battle.

“What can you learn from him?” asked Higgs. “Courage. You can do anything.”

The cemetery, which covers 11 acres on the White Horse Pike, was established in 1900 as the final resting place for more than 3,000 Black veterans, former slaves, and those who couldn’t be buried in white-only cemeteries.

“Back then, just because people were Black meant that they couldn’t be buried in the same graveyard as white people in a graveyard at all, that’s just rude,” Vicor Paulino wrote in the class chat.

» READ MORE: New Jersey moves to strengthen Black history education mandates

It was such real-life connections that Cobia, a teacher for 12 years, had hoped to deliver. “It’s an amazing thing when students become excited about learning,” she said.