Milford Marker Unveiling Honoring Harriet E. Wilson

Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Kevin Wade Mitchel as Jack Staines Seafaring was one of the most significant occupations among both enslaved and free Black men between 1740 and 1865. Black sailors sailed on whalers, warships, and privateers. Some were enslaved and forced to work at sea, but by 1800 most seamen were free to seek adventure and economic opportunity aboard ship. On this tour you will meet a mariner who was also husband to Ona Marie Judge, the escaped…

Tour Guide: David Nelson Harriet E. Wilson was the first African American of any gender to publish a novel on the North American continent. Her book Our Nig, or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black was published in 1859. Born a free person of color in New Hampshire, Wilson was orphaned when young and bound until the age of 18 as an indentured servant. She struggled to make a living after that, marrying twice; her only son George died at…

Historians Rebecca Courser & Lynn Clark will take us on a journey in Warner, NH that will commemorate and make visible the town’s Black community that dates back to the 1700s. This tour will begin at the Soldier’s Monument near the town hall.