DPL News & Views

New Hampshire’s Little-Known
Black Daughters

at the
Dover Public Library

New Hampshire has a long, rich, and vibrant African-American history.  On Monday evening March 31 at 7pm, the Friends of the Dover Public Library are pleased to present a program by JerriAnne Boggis and Courtney Marshall entitled “New Hampshire’s Little-Known Black Daughters”.  They will discuss the lives and contributions of two local  African-American women:  Nellie Brown Mitchell, a renowned 19^th century opera singer and concert company owner from Dover, and Harriet E. Wilson, an author from Milford who penned “Our Nig, or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black”  in 1859. Re-discovered in 1982 by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., this book has been documented as the first African-American novel published in the United States.  

               

This dynamic program will explore themes of community, history, and identity and the continuing importance of Black history in New Hampshire. Courtney Marshall is an Assistant Professor of English and Women’s Studies at the University of New Hampshire. Her field of research includes African-American literature, critical race feminism, queer ethnic studies, and law and popular culture. JerriAnne Boggis is the Director of the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail and the Harriet Wilson Project who works to tell the little-known stories of Black history in New Hampshire and beyond.

            

For more information on this free program, call the Dover Public Library at 603-516-6050.