6 activists from New Hampshire you should know about

Learn about these trailblazing activists from New Hampshire who used their platform for the greater good.

Despite the recent political shake-up in the Statehouse, there are Granite Staters who deserve to be celebrated for making the world a better place, one good deed at a time.

Here are six notable activists from New Hampshire to learn about (and from):

1. Jonathan Daniels 

A native of Keene, New Hampshire, Jonathan Myrick Daniels (1939-1965), was a civil rights hero and martyr.

Daniels was a 26-year-old seminary student when he decided to respond to Martin Luther King Jr.’s plea to have clergy from all faiths to bolster the civil rights movement in Selma. In August of 1965, he was picketing all-white stores in Fort Deposit, Alabama, along with 29 other students, when he was arrested and transported to a nearby jail in Hayneville. Upon his release, Daniels and three other people—a white Catholic priest and two Black women activists went into a nearby store to buy soft drinks when a deputy officer leveled his gun at one of the Black activists, Ruby Sales. Daniels immediately sprang into action, pushed Sales down, and was instantly killed by the shotgun.

Almost 800 people attended Daniels’ funeral, with sympathies coming from President Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and then-NH Gov. John W. King. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of Daniels: “Jonathan certainly had a promising life, and it is still a tragedy that it was cut so short by this brutal and bestial death that few people in our time will know such fulfillment or meaning though they live to be a hundred.”

There is a mural commemorating Daniels in Keene, and in 2015, his bust was installed at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. He is laid to rest in Monadnock View Cemetery in Keene.

2. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

Born in Concord, New Hampshire, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (1890-1964) was born into a radical, activist family—her father was a socialist, and her mother was a feminist.

Flynn showed a keen interest in activism from a young age and began as an organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World, a labor union that did not limit membership to American-born white men. She became one of the youngest members of the labor union, as it also took special interest in immigrant rights. She was also one of the founding members of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Post World War I, Flynn was engaged in legal defense for labor and political activists, who were threatened with deportation for holding radical political views.

Flynn was radicalized after the Great Depression and joined the Communist Party, which led to her expulsion from the ACLU in 1940. Her involvement in communism led to arrest and sentencing to prison for two years.

A historical marker was installed in Flynn’s memory in 2023 in New Hampshire, but was removed later following criticism from Republican lawmakers. She’s remembered as one of New Hampshire’s history-making women.

3. Becky Whitley

Former State Sen. Becky Whitley is a social justice and public service advocate who has spent years specializing in disability rights, child health policy, and climate justice. She served as a New Hampshire state senator from the 15th District from 2020 to 2024, which represents Concord, Penacook, Hopkinton, and Bow.

After receiving a law degree from Vermont Law School, Sen. Whitley worked at the Disability Rights Center in New Hampshire, where she specialized in Medicaid policy, special education, and other community-based services. Later, Sen. Whitley worked with the Environmental Defense Fund as a consultant and served as a climate organizer for Moms Clean Air Force.

Last year, Whitley ran for Congress from New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District, but briefly ended that bid after expressing the reality of running against two better-known candidates—Colin Van Ostern and Maggie Tamposi Goodlander (incumbent).

4. Amaranthia Sepia 

Amaranthia Sepia is a 25-year-old African-American and Barbadian artist and invisible disabilities activist based in Concord.

After having spent her childhood in Japan, Sepia returned to America, where she contended with years of bullying in a predominantly white neighborhood. This led to her developing complex post-traumatic stress disorder, racial trauma panic disorder, and agoraphobia.

Sepia has been creating art and raising her voice for Black Lives Matter, anti-bullying, disability rights, and women’s health through her work since the age of 13. She and her mother founded their art collective Sista Creative Rising, which gives other artists of color a virtual and disability-accessible platform to showcase their art through events.

Due to her mother’s ongoing cancer treatment, Sepia advocates for virtual and hybrid spaces for those who are disabled, and she wants to give everyone an opportunity to feel celebrated without exposing themselves to high-risk environments.

“Although it’s non-traditional, the virtual community has kept me going after the bullying I experienced and saved my life and our audience’s lives,” Sepia said in an email. “I’m proving with my work that disabled folks can live a full and happy life in this way, helping others and making a change.”

And what does Sepia do to engage in some self-love? “Create more art!” she said.

Check out more of Sepia’s work here.

5. Linds Jakows 

Linds Jakows is a Dover-based LGBTQ+ activist and the co-founder of 603 Equality, an LGBTQ+ advocacy nonprofit founded in 2023.

Originally from the Midwest, Jakows attended Pepperdine University in California, where they got the school’s first LGBTQ+ student club recognized through their activism and mobilization on campus.

Prior to staunchly standing up for LGBTQ+ rights in New Hampshire, Jakows spent years working on several political campaigns in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and spent time working on youth voter mobilization programs, immigrant rights advocacy, and economic justice.

Jakows was the director of communications at Granite State Progress until June 2024, a statewide nonprofit that works on a host of issues such as healthcare, gun violence prevention and civil rights.

They have been bestowed with the ACLU NH Bill of Rights Honoree Award in 2018 for their work against transgender discrimination, the 2018 Citizen of the Year Award from the NH Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, and the 2017 Human Rights Award from NH Rights and Democracy.

When not standing up to defend human rights, Jakows can be found hanging out around their plants in their home in Dover.

6. Henry Klementowicz

Portsmouth resident Henry Klementowicz is the deputy legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire.

A decorated lawyer, Klementowicz’s work focuses on advocacy for civil rights and liberties, particularly in the area of voting rights and freedom of speech in New Hampshire.

Klementowicz received his JD from Georgetown University, and in 2018, he joined the ACLU as a staff attorney after three years of working at a large New Hampshire legal firm, McLane Middleton. Previously, he spent two years as a law clerk for the judges of Rockingham County Superior Court.

In 2021, Klementowicz received the New Hampshire Bar Association’s Kirby Award. In 2017, he was bestowed with the NH Young Democrats’ Robert F. Kennedy Progressive of the Year Award for his ardent support of the party and Granite State values.

This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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