Not a Slave, yet not Free: Harriet E. Wilson and the Abolition Movement

**2026 Black New England Conference Guided Bus Tour!

**

Date: Friday, October 23, 2026
Time: 9 AM
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: David Nelson
Town: Milford, NH
Meeting Place: Manchester, NH

Long before her name became known in literary history, Harriet E. Wilson was navigating life in the small town of Milford, New Hampshire.

Wilson, the first known African American to publish a novel on the North American continent, transformed the pain and injustice of her early life into Our Nig (1859), a groundbreaking work that challenged the belief that racism and exploitation were confined to the South.

Born free but bound to indentured servitude until age 18, Harriet endured a childhood marked by labor, instability, and exclusion. This moving tour traces the places connected to her life as a child-servant, young mother, widow, and writer—revealing the experiences that shaped her voice and legacy.

Along the way, you’ll learn about Harriet’s only son, George, whose tragic death in a poorhouse reflected the harsh realities she struggled to overcome. You’ll also discover how Wilson later reinvented herself as a Spiritualist and public lecturer, earning a living by telling her story on her own terms.

Beginning in downtown Milford, the tour concludes at the Harriet Wilson Memorial—the first life-size public statue in New Hampshire dedicated to commemorating a Black person.

This is more than a literary history. It is the story of a woman who refused to disappear.