I suggest that we use a balanced approach to how we allow the New Hampshire public to view historic markers along our streets and roadsides. Some have expressed dismay that there is a marker in Concord honoring Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. Certain aspects of her life may not be admirable to some such as her affiliation with the Communist Party. Some aspects make her a hero to others (including myself), especially her active defense of textile and other workers across the United States and as a champion of civil liberties.
We can choose to look at history with an open or closed mind. Franklin Pierce, according to Wikipedia, was a “northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation’s unity, he alienated anti-slavery groups by signing the Kansas–Nebraska Act and enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act. Conflict between North and South continued after Pierce’s presidency, and, after Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, the Southern states seceded, resulting in the American Civil War.”
I find this, and its impact on millions of Black and white people far more revolting than Flynn’s membership in an outlawed political party that never had more than a few thousand members. I will make a formal request to remove the marker for Mr. Pierce, which is also in Concord, if the Flynn marker is removed. As Concord City Councilor Zandra Rice Hawkins has commented, “White washing our history is never a good look”.
William Maddocks
Amherst