In honor of Black History Month, the Library will be screening "Shadows Fall North," a documentary about black history in New Hampshire. This event is made possible through Black Heritage Trail New Hampshire.

About the Film:

This documentary “Shadows Fall North,” focuses on the efforts of two dedicated historic preservationists and activists, Valerie Cunningham (coauthor of Black Portsmouth: Three Centuries of African American Heritage) of Portsmouth and JerriAnne Boggis of Milford, to recover the stories of people who have been rendered nearly invisible in the historical record.

From the story of the recovery of the Portsmouth African Burying Ground, honoring the novelist Harriet Wilson of Milford, to the historical 1779 petition for freedom written by twenty enslaved Africans this film brings to light many individuals whose lives and accomplishments were erased from New Hampshire’s collective memory.

The film asks us to look at New Hampshire’s history of slavery, segregation, and the neglect of African American history. It also seeks to answer the question: What happens when we move toward a fuller understanding of our history by including all voices?