Date of Award

5-2026

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Degree Program

History

Department

History

Major Professor

Kathryn Dungy

Second Advisor

Andrea Mosterman

Third Advisor

Mary Mitchell

Abstract

This thesis illuminates the story of Dinah Whipple, a former enslaved and literate woman of color living in Portsmouth, New Hampshire during the early 1800s. Dinah opened the Ladies Charitable African School, the first school for Black children in New Hampshire, and as an educator she was a community leader and championed social issues facing her community. This thesis will use the Ladies Charitable African School and Dinah Whipple’s work in New England to show the lengths local communities went to, to establish accessible schools. The major academic discussions surrounding education in the 18th-century to 19th-century revolve around earlier Black schools in New York and Boston, and the beginning of white women’s education in the North. This thesis fills the gaps in this conversation by bringing New Hampshire into the conversation, and centering Black women in the discussion on education. Dinah Whipple’s work running the Ladies Charitable African School (1806-1832) gives insight into the fight for Black education happening in New England in the early 1800s. Using city documents and newspapers, this thesis will show how Dinah utilized her social and political environment to bring educational change to her community.

Rights

The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.

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