Uncovering the History of African-Americans in the Monadnock Region

Learn about an ongoing citizen-archivist project uncovering the history of African-American people in the Monadnock Region in this video of the program held on January 12. Over the last 18 months, a group of volunteer citizen- archivists have been examining historical documents to reveal the names and stories of African-Americans who lived in the region between 1760 and 1930.

This video the formal presentation on the project and the Q&A session that followed the presentation. Project coordinator Michelle Stahl shares the projects scope and methods, some of the intriguing findings, and how the project fits into regional and state-wide efforts to research black history in New Hampshire.

The project, a collaboration between the Peterborough Town Library and the Monadnock Center for History and Culture, seeks to pull together information from diverse primary and secondary sources in order to document the African-American community in the region. With guidance from the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire, the project is designed to facilitate the addition of Monadnock Region information to the Trail’s BlackNewEngland.org online database.

Historical Society of Cheshire County will host a panel discussion on February 22, 2021 at 6 p.m. with the Monadnock Center and Warner Historical Society that will further explore the regional and statewide efforts to recover Black history in the state. Click here to learn more.