This story was originally produced by the Concord Monitor. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
If someone living in the United States in the early 1800s hadn’t seen a Richard Potter performance, they at least knew someone who had.
Besides his extraordinary feats in magic and ventriloquism, Potter stood out among his entertainment peers for visiting virtually every community in the East: from developed cities to quiet villages.
“That’s a remarkable thing to be able to say about anyone at a time before railroads, before significant steamboat transportation,” said John Hodgson, a historian who wrote a book on Richard Potter. “There are all those reasons to think he’s not just interesting, he’s really important. He is a first in so many different categories.”
Potter was considered the first Black celebrity in the U.S. and, as Hodgson argued, the most prolific figure in entertainment of his time. His New England ties run deep, being born in Massachusetts and building a home in Andover, notably known as Potter’s Place.
He and other outstanding Black figures in New Hampshire history will be celebrated as the “5 to Know,” with a reenactment hosted by the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire on June 21.
Dariya Steele, the Heritage Trail’s program director, said it was a “no-brainer” to choose Potter and the others, among them a novelist, Revolutionary war veterans and an enslaved woman who freed herself.
“This 5 to Know campaign that we’re doing is really just a way to get a better understanding of Black history in New Hampshire, and we thought these … five prominent people and their stories were a great way for people to connect with their lives, and what they did, and why they’re important,” she said.
Richard Potter’s story
Potter’s magical act included passing coins through wine glasses and plates, breaking eggs into hats and turning them into hot pancakes and walking on fire, according to the New England Historical Society.
Hodgson — author of “Richard Potter: America’s First Black Celebrity” published in 2018 — said Potter had “nerve and panache.” Starting his performances in 1815 all the way up to his death in 1835, Potter traveled everywhere he could and worked constantly.
Potter was born in Hopkinton, Mass., in 1783 to a white father and a Black mother, Dinah, who was captured off the coast of Guinea and enslaved. She and her children were freed when the Massachusetts Constitution abolished slavery.
His exposure to magic came from being an assistant to Scottish-born performer John Rannie. He swallowed razors, restored smashed watches and even cut off a chicken’s head and reattached it. After Rannie’s retirement in 1811, Potter set out with his own show.
Despite being a beloved performer, especially among children, Potter was still acutely aware of his identity as a Black man and the danger that came with it. He had to avoid parts of Georgia after a slave rebellion was leaked, leading to dozens of arrests and deaths, Hodgson found in his research.
What he also found was that Potter appeared in Savannah some 10 years later with a circus menagerie that featured fire tricks and gymnastic contortion.
“He was breaking new ground in the world of menagerie and circus entertainment, and nobody in the world had ever known that,” Hodgson said. “So he just kept changing and evolving and keeping fresh, which was one of the secrets of his career.”
Teaching Black history in New Hampshire
When Megan Philbrook came to teach at the Andover Elementary/Middle School 10 years ago, she quickly learned the lore about Potter’s Place, which is used as a key geographic reference for locals.
“You either live on one side of town or you live near Potter Place,” she said. “Probably in my first year of teaching, they [my students] pretty quickly schooled me on Richard Potter, and it’s just an integral part of town history. Everyone knows who Richard Potter is.”
Philbrook was the 2026 Teacher of the Year, recognized for her in-depth and hands-on teaching style. As part of this achievement, she modeled activities in other schools based on American history and had teachers study her classroom.
Thinking about the U.S. semiquincentennial, Philbrook connected with the Black Heritage Trail to integrate the stories of the “5 to Know,” including Potter, into lessons for schools across New Hampshire.
“High school seniors have to have a half credit of New Hampshire history, so utilizing the 5 to Know to help students meet that requirement, it’s an expectation that we need to now be teaching way more New Hampshire history, and these people are just a fascinating part of our state story,” she said.
Steele, the Heritage Trail program director, said that many Black stories were lost and had to be uncovered, especially Potter’s. Once the end of the 1800s rolled around, those who had seen Potter’s shows had passed away and his story had been forgotten.
The internet age made it possible to unearth a lot more about Potter, and historians like Hodgson are still uncovering new things about him.
“History was erased and forgotten a long time ago, and we’re starting to see a pattern of it happening again,” Steele said. “So that’s what we’re trying to do, is make sure that people know the importance of this history, that it’s American history, and it’s something that everyone in New Hampshire and beyond should know and should be learning.”
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