New Hampshire Slaves Granted Freedom 234 Years Later

Some disturbed souls are finally getting some peace. After 234 years, New Hampshire finally emancipated 14 slaves who fought in the Revolutionary War.

The slaves had asked the New Hampshire General Assembly for their freedom on November 12, 1779, while the war was still being fought, arguing that the freedom being sought by colonists should be extended to them, and maintaining that "public tyranny and slavery are alike detestable to minds conscious of the equal dignity of human nature."

Governor Maggie Hassan signed a bill emancipating the 14 slaves. "Their plea fell on deaf ears," she said at the ceremony. "It is a source of deep shame that our predecessors didn't honor this request. But today, more than 230 years too late for their petition, we say that freedom truly is an inherent right not to be surrendered."

Valerie Cunningham, who wrote a history of slavery in Portsmouth, noted that the petitioners weren't asking only for their personal freedom, they wanted the state to abolish slavery altogether. "Let's celebrate today with the expectation that this symbolic act will remind us to continue working for social justice here in the Granite State," she said.

Woullard Lett, a member of the Manchester NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), said it's never too late to do the right thing. "It's symbolic and 200 years late; however, then and now, it's the right thing to do," he said.