THE LEGACY OF SLAVERY:
AN EVENING WITH JUDGE NELSON JOHNSON 

Thursday, July 7th 5pm
Lecture: Free to the Community
Reception Tickets: $25

Please Join the Cape May Forum on Thursday, July 7 at 5 PM at The First Presbyterian Church of Cape May. Reception to follow, 6-8 PM at The Wooden Rabbit. The lecture is free to the community. Reception: $25.

Judge Nelson Johnson presents, “The Legacy of Slavery” lecture, based on his book, The Northside: African Americans and the Creation of Atlantic City.

In The Northside, Johnson brings the untold story of Atlantic City's black community vividly to life, from the arrival of the first African Americans to Absecon Island in the early 19th century through the glory days of the "World's Playground." Drawing on dozens of personal interviews and painstaking archival research, he reveals long-forgotten details about the people on whose backs the gambling mecca was built and offers a wide-ranging survey of the accomplishments of more recent generations.

Exploited for their labor and banished to the most undesirable part of town, resilient Northsiders created a vibrant city within a city—a place where black culture could thrive and young people could aspire to become artists, athletes, educators, and leaders of business, politics, and society. As Nelson Johnson shows in this unflinching portrait, Atlantic City was built on their toil—and the Northside was born of their dreams.

Judge Johnson is the award-winning author of Boardwalk Empire, which was converted into an HBO series in 2010.