What makes Portsmouth what it is?
What do we choose to remember?
 
The people, places and ideas we choose to memorialize,with plaques and community projects, resonate. As writer Rebecca Solnit observes in an essay titled "The Monument Wars" (2017):  "A city is a book we read by wandering its streets... in the monument wars, as we excavate our history like an archaeological site … we have a chance to arrive at new conclusions, nominate new heroes, rethink the past, and reorient ourselves to the future."
 
For example, among the various versions of the story of Portsmouth and the Open Door, there are markers along the Black Heritage Trail attesting to the legacy of Portsmouth's transplanted Africans and resident African-Americans. Among these is Frederick Douglass who spoke at The Temple (now The Music Hall) in 1862.

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