The New Hampshire Black Heritage Trail is unveiling a new marker Saturday in Dover honoring Dover-born siblings Nellie Brown Mitchell and Edward Everett Brown.
Their family was influential in Dover’s cultural life and city government during the 19th century. Mitchell was one of the country’s first Black concert sopranos, and her brother was a lawyer and civil rights activist.
According to Terry Robinson, the trail’s marketing specialist, the effort to commemorate the siblings started a few years ago, when the organization learned Mitchell’s gravesite was in Pine Hill Cemetery. The group worked with other community partners to clean up the site and install a new headstone.
“Not only are we honoring [Mitchell’s] history and her life, we’re also honoring the resilience and the story that her history is interwoven with in Dover,” Robinson said.
The trail shows that the multifaceted history of Black Granite Staters is in every community across the state, Robinson said.
“This history is not just in Portsmouth, it’s not just in Manchester,” he said. “In New Hampshire, it’s in your own backyard.”
The unveiling will take place at 1pm in Pine Grove cemetery and feature a performance of Mitchell’s music by singer Jennifer Rachele.
Prior to the ceremony, there will be a tour of Dover’s other black history sites beginning at noon, starting at the Dover Friends Meeting House.
For more information about the event and to register for the tour, visit www.blackheritagetrailnh.org
