MANCHESTER, NH – The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire and the Manchester Historic Association are excited to announce the dedication of a new marker recognizing and honoring enslaved peoples’ contributions to Manchester’s textile industry. This will be the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire’s first commemorative marker in Manchester.
The unveiling ceremony will take place on Saturday, September 21, at 10 a.m. The marker will be located on the south end of the Mill #3 building at 200 Bedford Street, also the home of the Millyard Museum. The location of the marker and ceremony is the site of a three-story picker house where bales of raw cotton were delivered and mill workers separated the cotton fibers from stems and sticks. This was one of the first places the cotton was handled once it arrived from the south.
Prior to the Civil War, the majority of the cotton used to manufacture cloth at the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in Manchester was purchased from southern sources where it was grown and picked on cotton plantations by enslaved people. In 1859, Amoskeag purchased an average of 5,000 bales of cotton per week for its textile production. The cotton was received from cities including Mobile, Alabama; Galveston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Apalachicola, Florida.
Representatives from the Black Heritage Trail and Manchester Historic Association will give brief remarks, and refreshments will follow the ceremony.
After the ceremony, attendees are invited to tour the Millyard Museum.
About the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire:
The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire promotes awareness and appreciation of African American history and life in order to build more inclusive communities today. We work to visibly honor and share a truer, more inclusive history through exhibits, educational programs, curriculum development and tours that can change the way our country understands human dignity when it is free of historical stereotypes. Building on the success of the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail that started more than two decades ago, the statewide Black Heritage Trail connects the stories of New Hampshire’s African heritage by documenting and making visible many of the historic sites that testify to this rich history. The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire is an independent, nonprofit organization. The organization is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit; Taxpayer Identification Number 81-3921917.
About the Manchester Historic Association:
Founded in 1896, the Manchester Historic Association is an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization with the mission to collect, preserve and share the history of Manchester, New Hampshire. The Association operates the Millyard Museum and the Manchester Research Center, both of which are open to the general public. The Association presents a variety of public programs including lectures, walking tours, and concerts, and also school programs for students from kindergarten through college. Call (603) 622-7531 for more information, or visit www.manchesterhistoric.org.
