Harriet E. Wilson at the historic Nehemiah Hayward Homestead

Located at The Historic Nehemiah Hayward Homestead.
19 Maple Street, Milford, NH

Harriet E. (Adams) Wilson, the first African American female novelist published in the United States, lived here in the Hayward-Hutchinson Homestead from 1830 – 1846. Wilson’s novel, Our Nig, or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black (1859), was based on her early life.

Abandoned by her mother at age six, Wilson was indentured to the Hayward family until age eighteen and was often in poor health. Her inhumane treatment in this house deeply influenced her writing, revealing as she wrote, that slavery’s shadow falls even here in the North. 

After her servitude, Harriet was often listed as a town pauper, yet she later ran a successful business selling Mrs H.E. Wilson’s hair products. She subsequently married twice and lost her son George and both her husbands.

Wilson’s life, and her novel, confronting the harsh realities of her time are a testament to her resilience, courage, and fortitude.