Commemorating the first known African-American woman to publish a novel, the Harriet E. Wilson Memorial was dedicated in 2006. The Milford, New Hampshire native, published the book Our Nig: Or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black in 1859. The novel’s autobiographical account depicts the story of young Frado who was abandoned by her mother and raised by a white family, experiences verbal and physical abuses.

Commissioned by The Harriet Wilson Project, sculptor Fern Cunningham, known for her Harriet Tubman Memorial in South Boston, created the statue celebrating the black woman and her accomplishment. With no photographs or portraits to work from, Cunningham offers a fresh look of a woman, chin high, open book raised to her face, with her young son George at her side.

The Harriet E. Wilson Memorial sits in a grassy area within Bicentennial Park. Civil rights activist, author and actress Ruby Dee, in her keynote speech at the dedication, reminded all that this memorial celebrates Wilson’s life, her spirit and her legacy of resilience.