An Historic Event!
On the evening of September 8th, 2025,
The Madison Borough Council certified Resolution 241-2025, granting permission to install a historic market at the METC, adopted at its September 8, 2025, meeting.
The New Jersey Historical Commission will erect a plaque highlighting the New Jersey Supreme Court case Sellers v. Phillips Barber Shop, which recognizes the decades-long fight by African Americans against segregation in public spaces that gained national and international recognition in the 1960s. In 1964, barber shops in Madison, New Jersey, became the scene of civil rights protests when barbers refused to serve Black patrons. Weeks after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “American Dream” speech at Drew University on February 5, 1964, the Civil Rights Action Committee organized protests and boycotts seeking equal treatment. These efforts led to the New Jersey Supreme Court case Sellers v. Philip’s Barber Shop, which ruled that no barber could turn away customers based on race. 2 The United States national Civil Rights Movement inspired this landmark case.
We will be hosting a plaque ceremony to celebrate the historical impact of the Sellers vs. Phillips Barbershop NJ Supreme Court Case. Please check back in the new year for more information.
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Learn
Madison's First Families
From a revered federal judge to the young first Black Lead in the NYC Ballet production of The Nutcracker, our town has a rich Black history full of accomplishments, triumphs, and legacy that has shaped our present.
Our committee members have been conducting extensive research into some of these extraordinary lives. Click the button below to discover Madison's Hidden Figures.
Video Archives
Crimson Rose: Oral History Project
in collaboration
with
Drew University
professor, Jonathan Golden, and spoken word artist Joshua Tull
An afternoon of poetry, historical anecdotes of Madison, NJ's History, and fellowship.
May 2024
Community Event
June 2023 & 2024
Madison Community Arts Center
Color Outside The Lines
In the spring of 2022, we raised enough funds to purchase a two-pack bundle of flesh tone and rainbow crayons for each student in Madison, NJ's elementary public schools. We hope every child who uses the crayons can create artistic and educational pieces representing them, their school, and the world. Thank you to everyone who gave to this meaningful cause.
Drop off at Tori J. Sabatini School (Spring 2022)
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Drop off at Central Avenue School
(Spring 2022)
Hidden Figures Community Event 2021
Artist's Pick Gallery
2021
Click on an image to view details and start the slide show
Diversity and representation have never been more important. The Little Diverse Library, started by two young girls in Madison, NJ is located just outside of the Museum of Early Trades and Crafts. The library shares books with diverse authors, characters, and storylines with the community.
Our first Community Day Fundraiser saw the donation of over 40 books with diverse voices to this library.
Learn more about the Little Diverse Library Project here.
About Us
During the Summer of 2020, the Community Conversations group invited Madison, NJ citizens to gather and have the difficult but necessary dialogue needed when a spotlight was shining on one of the most egregious crimes of injustice in our nation. During one of the meetings, a community mural space was suggested where Madison's citizens could continuously reflect, converse and consider the paths that led to what we witnessed. The refined mural project became the Hidden Figures of Madison, NJ. The Hidden Figures of Madison project vision is to create spaces where Madison, NJ residents can learn about their town from the perspective of the underrepresented ethnic groups who have added and continue to add to Madison's and our nation’s fabric.
Spring 2021: The Hidden Figures of Madison project aims to shine a light on Madison’s community members’ untold stories through visual arts and literature created by the Madison Borough School District students. Bringing these stories to light through our students’ inspired work will help connect their stories to our history.
Who We are
Kenisha Tucker (Bonfield)
Co-founder and Lesson Coordinator
I am a native Jamaican and a naturalized American citizen who moved to Madison, NJ, in 1990. I was raised along with my two siblings, Sharela and Kamur, by our grandmother Muriel Bonfield. I graduated from Madison High School in 1999. My husband, Rohan Sr., and I met at the Friendly’s, now the Haven Savings Bank on Main Street. After getting married and living in East Stroudsburg, PA, for nine years, we returned to Madison, NJ, in November of 2011, where we are now raising our five children (Ella, Rohan Jr., Lincoln, Logan, and Ava). I earned my BA degree cum laude in Science and Human Development degree with a Certification in Family, Child & School and aMA in Reading with a Reading Specialist Certification at New Jersey’s Montclair State University. The vision for the Hidden Figures of Madison project was birth during the summer of 2020 when our nation heard one of the loudest cries for racial justice during my lifetime. I hope that the Hidden Figures of Madison, NJ, project will be a platform for the untold stories in our history to be heard.
Sharela Coon-Bonfield
Co-Founder, Collaborating Artist, and Lesson Coordinator
I am a Jamaica-born, Brooklyn-based textile artist. I immigrated to the United States at the age of seven. I was raised by my grandmother, Muriel Louise Bonfield, who owned a seamstress shop in Jamaica before migrating to the United States. I was fortunate to have her sewing knowledge passed on to me. While attending Madison High School (Madison, New Jersey), I attended The Fashion Institute of Technologies Precollege programs in New York City. After graduating high school, I attended the Maryland Institute College of Art (Baltimore, MD), majoring in Fiber Arts.In 2011, I moved to Brooklyn, where I began teaching artists through a two-year fellowship with the Joan Mitchell Foundation. I continue to teach with the Guggenheim’s Learning Through Art Program and Studio in a School. I have exhibited nationally and have worked in the permanent collection of the Fortune Society. I also participated in the First Friday Residency with the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning. I use textile art as a catalyst to explore the ambiguities of language, popular culture, and race. I am intrigued with the intimacy of textiles; their texture, the grid of the weave, and the cultural roles of the medium. My work often focuses on my perception of Americana as an immigrant woman of color. I use textile art to explore language, popular culture, and race as an immigrant woman of color.
Deb Farrar Starker
Project supporter/Collaborator
I serve as the Executive Director of the Museum of Early Trades & Crafts (METC) in Madison, NJ. I hold a B.S. in Marketing and Economics from NY Stern School of Business and an M.A. in Museum Professions from Seton Hall University and have over 20 years of experience in the arts and culture sector. Leading a history museum at this pivotal time in our history is exciting and challenging. We have an opportunity to be an integral part of the larger community with the ability to work collaboratively with all people to build connections, discuss topics that address current events, and present history as a way to inform our future. I am a Native New Yorker but have lived in Madison for 30 years with my husband, Isaac, a surgeon. We raised two independent and intelligent daughters who are products of the Madison Public School system and are now successful professionals working in pharmaceutical digital strategies and collegiate athletic compliance. The Hidden Figures of Madison project has been an extraordinary and wonderful collaboration—although my part in this was very small! Working with these women has been such a joy, and they all inspire me to be a better, more caring human and a staunch advocate for tolerance, justice, and equality.
Press
Media Mentions
February 14, 2025
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