Lost Boundaries [Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail] - Portsmouth, NH
Posted by: 
NorStar
N 43° 04.515 W 070° 45.564
19T E 356767 N 4770673
At the Rockingham Hotel which used to occupy the building on this site, Louis deRochemont forced a change in the hotel's policy by threatening to move the headquarters of his movie production out of the hotel.
Waymark Code: WM5X16
Location: New Hampshire, United States
Date Posted: 02/22/2009
Views: 10
On the front of the building that used to be the Rockingham Hotel and now is the location of The Library Restaurant and four gold lions in front, has a plaque near the corner that states:
"Portsmouth
"Black Heritage Trail
"Lost Boundaries
"'The March of Time' newsreel producer Louis deRochemont booked the Rockingham Hotel as production headquarters for his 1949 film, 'Lost Boundaries.' Many Blacks were among the locals employed as extras to tell this biographical story of 'passing' at a time when racial issues were not confronted openly. Told that the hotel did not welcome Black people, deRochemont offered to take his entire crew elsewhere, and thus changed the hotel's discriminatory practices.
"By the 1960s when civil rights activists were gradually forcing implementation of new federal desegregation laws, the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) moved its meeting place to the Rockingham."
This sign is one of many "Black Heritage Trail" plaques found throughout the city. More information can be found at this web site.
(
visit link)
The address for the Library Restaurant is 401 State Street, Portsmouth, NH 03801.