GRAHAM RUSSELL GAO HODGES is the George Dorland Langdon, Jr. Professor of History and Africana and Latin American studies at Colgate University. He is the author or editor of sixteen books, including Slavery and Freedom in the Rural North: African Americans in Monmouth County, New Jersey, 1660-1870; Root & Branch: African Americans in New York and East Jersey, 1613-1863; and Black New Jersey (Rutgers University Press).