Containing the military service records of more than 200 black soldiers with ties to New Hampshire during the American Revolution, this volume helps provide a better understanding of what it meant to be a black man in New Hampshire during this critical phase of American history. Knoblock (an author and lecturer from Dover, N.H.) covers campaigns and engagements, and details the known information about each soldier's career. The study's appendices include black soldiers who died in the war, black soldiers before the revolution, breakdown by regiment, and black place names and locales in New Hampshire. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

Few people think of a rich Black heritage when they think of New England. In the pioneering book Black Portsmouth, Mark J. Sammons and Valerie Cunningham celebrate it, guiding the reader through more than three centuries of New England and Portsmouth social, political, economic, and cultural history as well as scores of personal and site-specific stories. Here, we meet such Africans as the "likely negro boys and girls from Gambia," who debarked at Portsmouth from a slave ship in 1758, and Prince Whipple, who fought in the American Revolution. We learn about their descendants, including the performer Richard Potter and John Tate of the People’s Baptist Church, who overcame the tragedies and challenges of their ancestors’ enslavement and subsequent marginalization to build communities and families, found institutions, and contribute to their city, region, state, and nation in many capacities. Individual entries speak to broader issues—the anti-slavery movement, American religion, and foodways, for example. We also learn about the extant historical sites important to Black Portsmouth—including the surprise revelation of an African burial ground in October 2003—as well as the extraordinary efforts being made to preserve remnants of the city’s early Black heritage.