JerriAnne Boggis
Making History by the Book
JerriAnne Boggis had been aware of African-American writer Harriet Wilson; the writer’s novel “Our Nig” has been on her “to read” list for a while. But when Boggis learned that Wilson lived and wrote in her own town of Milford, she was determined to spread the word: “Wilson is known as the first black woman to publish a novel, and who would have thought she came from a little town in New Hampshire?” As project director and a founding member of the Harriet Wilson Project, Boggis leads efforts to raise awareness, celebrate and honor the author by erecting a statue in Wilson’s honor, right in the town where a servant girl made world history. Her story, explains Boggis, “broadens New Hampshire’s story. It makes it deeper, fuller and more complex.”
New Hampshire Magazine knows where “It” is at. Each November, we identify the state’s most happening people and publish their names and profiles in our annual “It List.”
So what defines an “It” Person?
How about buzz, panache, je ne sais quoi, currency, a person whose time has come, a person of tomorrow, a timeless person, noteworthy, below the radar, in the news, in the know, hot, cool, high impact, slippery, a mover and shaker, a humble saint, a behind-the-scenes operator, a scenery chewer, an unsung hero, a hero who knows how to sing.
It’s a quality that’s hard to define, but you know it when you see it.
Above is one member of the 2006 It List.
