JerriAnne Boggis, Milford

11th ANNUAL WOMEN’S RECOGNITION AWARD RECIPIENT

Biographical Information

The New Hampshire Commission on the Status of Women’s Eleventh Annual Women’s Recognition Award recipient is JerriAnne Boggis of Milford, New Hampshire. The award is given each year to a woman chosen by the Commission who has brought honor and valor to herself and to the state through her accomplishments and contribution.

JerriAnne Boggis, of Milford, is this year’s recipient for her tireless efforts to raise awareness of the first African American woman to publish a novel in the United States. As founder and director of the project to honor the achievements of Harriet E. Adams Wilson in the author’s hometown, Milford, and throughout the state, Ms. Boggis has been a positive role model for all women and girls in New Hampshire. She was the initiator of a series of public education programs across the state, bringing attention to and recognizing Harriet Wilson for her autobiographical novel, Our Nig; or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black, In a Two Story White House, North.

JerriAnne Boggis engaged Milford leaders in the project, resulting in their designating a city park as the Harriet E Adams Wilson Memorial Site. Ms. Boggis was able to further increase public awareness and gain support from the community for the commission of a life-size sculpture of Harriet Wilson. This is the only public sculpture honoring a person of color in the State of New Hampshire.

Ms. Boggis was instrumental in creating a Black History Trail marking more than a dozen sites related to Harriet Wilson and Underground Railroad activities occurring in Milford during the period.

While JerriAnne Boggis is planning ongoing educational programs related to Harriet Wilson, her life is enriched with numerous other endeavors. Ms. Boggis is employed by the University of New Hampshire as Coordinator of Diversity Initiatives, and she assisted in the coordination for Black New England Conferences and the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail Symposiums.