New Hampshire Magazine
Learn about the work and impact of these Granite State female activists
March 16, 2021
This series will run throughout the month of March, highlighting historical female Granite Staters each week.
Leading female suffragist from New Hampshire
White was a leader in the women’s suffrage movement of New Hampshire, with many describing her as the leading suffragist. Married to a wealthy stagecoach operator, she took on the role of philanthropist as well. Fighting for human rights throughout her lifetime, White was also deeply involved in the antislavery and alcohol temperance movements.
Working not only on the suffragist movement in New Hampshire, but within the national movement as well, White collaborated with well-known suffragettes such as Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone.
PORTSMOUTH – The inaugural Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) Seacoast Leaders awards ceremony Sunday night, Feb. 28, went well and will be an annual event, according to organizers.
Clifton West Jr., one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter Seacoast, the host organization for the event, said he was pleased with the evening.
“It went better than I thought it would, for the first time,” said West. “I found the stories that were told, and the passion displayed inspiring. It was such a beautiful event. I look forward to the next one.”
The event is intended to highlight people of color whose work has benefitted the Seacoast region.
After Portsmouth native Doris Moore returned home in 1942 with a bachelor’s degree in hand, she wanted to do something to help her country. America was embroiled in the Second World War at the time, a literal battle between good and evil.
Moore was a woman, and she was Black. Her opportunity to make a significant contribution to the war effort was limited not only by her gender but by her race. This opportunity ultimately arrived with the formation of the 6888th Central Postal Delivery Battalion, an all-Black detachment of the Women’s Army Corps.
In order to achieve success on the battlefield, America’s fighting men needed more than proper training and equipment; more than an effective military strategy to guide them. They had to be reminded at times just why they were fighting so far from home.
Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part series on the way recent events are helping Americans come to terms with our checkered past.
Twenty-something years ago, I was chatting with a college professor at Prescott Park when the topic turned to American slavery. I noted, having recently interviewed historian Valerie Cunningham, that the first enslaved African in New Hampshire had arrived at this very spot in 1645.
Slavery is a Southern thing
“That can’t be true,” my scholarly companion replied, or something to that effect. He seemed offended by the very idea. “There was no slavery around here. That was a Southern thing,” he corrected.