My thesis is an account of resistance by African Americans through structural inequalities and pervasive racism in early New Jersey. With a thorough understanding and explantion of a structural racism, I have been able to explain a portion of the experiences felt by the 19th century African American community of Fair Haven. This experience can be largely understood by analyzing the racial and class differences between the economically dominant community and the less wealthy. Members of the dominate [sic] community expressed racial boundaries by enforcing laws that segregated African Americans from educational and religious facilities. Lack of access to these facilities made it cumbersome for African Americans to achieve social equality, forcing them to create their own educational and religiouis institutions. This thesis is meant to show a different perspective of history that is giving a voice to the voiceless. With a heavy reliance on historical documentation and an understanding of the geophysical landscape I have been able to illuminate the history of a community that has been, quite literally, erased from the physical landscape. This thesis is a call for community and archaeological engagement not only in Fair Haven but at similar historic African American sites. I am interested in identifying the ways in which the identity of this African American community can be clearly understood by recognizing how the history has been hidden by the dominant society.