Events
Upcoming Events
Ona Judge Day Tour
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Sonya Arroyo
In 2022, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu signed a bill that declared May 21 st to be Ona Judge Day. The declaration honors that day in 1796 on which Ona Maria Judge Staines left the residence of President George and Martha Washington in Philadelphia, boarded a ship to Portsmouth, and lived a long and dignified life in New Hampshire, free, but a fugitive.
On this special Ona Judge Day Tour, you will hear the true story of a young woman's quest for freedom. See the waterfront where Ona landed and visit the Portsmouth properties of some of America's most famous families - the Langdons, Warners, and Lears - whose stories are also bound to her incredible journey.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Ona Judge Mural Unveiling
In 2023, the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire unveiled plans to paint a mural of Ona Marie Judge Staines on its Portsmouth, New Hampshire, headquarters. As part of a local History Through Art initiative, the Black Heritage Trail will honor Staines, who bravely escaped the bonds of slavery in the late 1700s. While not yet a household name, Staines’ story is one of courage and self-determination that historians are working to share with the public. The Trail is working with artist Manuel Ramirez of Positive Street Art to create the mural. Below see the process that we came to decide on the mural's imagery, how Ona Judge would be portrayed, and how we would ensure the artwork reflected historical reality of the time period in which Ona Judge lived. The mural will be unveiled on Saturday, May 23, 2026. The event will feature guest speakers and a reception with refreshments provided. Read more about the mural project here.
Lives Bound Together: The Washingtons & Ona Marie Judge in NH
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Sonya Arroyo
During President George Washington’s final months in office, a woman named Ona Marie Judge was enslaved in the household of the First Family. In the spring of 1775, she sought her freedom, escaping from the Washingtons' executive mansion in Philadelphia with the aid of that city’s free Black community and making her way to Portsmouth. On this tour, you will hear the true story of Judge’s quest for freedom and the President’s relentless efforts to get her back. See the waterfront where she lands and visit the properties of some of America’s most famous families: the Langdons, Whipples, and Lears, whose stories were also bound to hers.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
War and Belonging: Black Soldiers of Portsmouth
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Bob Sheppard
Join Sankofa Scholar Bob Shepard, son of a Tuskegee Airman, for a powerful new walking
tour exploring the legacy of Black military service from the Revolutionary War to the
Vietnam War era.
Walk the streets of Portsmouth as you uncover the story of Prince Whipple, who fought for
freedom during the American Revolution; hear about the imprisonment of Harvey and
Daniels at the Navy Yard during the Vietnam War; and learn about Rosary Cooper’s vital
contributions on the home front during World War II.
Led by a guide with a personal legacy of military service, this story-driven tour invites you to
reflect on the meaning of service, sacrifice, and belonging.
Be among the first to experience this new tour—reserve your spot today.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Thirst for Freedom: From NH's Slave Trade to Its Civil Rights Movement
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Nur Shoop
Colonial Portsmouth newspapers testify to local involvement in the slave trade, runaway freedom-seekers, abolitionists, and anti-abolitionist activities, followed by conflicting opinions of the Civil War. In the 20th century, the legacy of that early history was reflected locally in newspaper reports of the struggles to end de facto segregation in housing, employment, and public places. This tour includes many of those historic landmarks from the early seventeenth through the twentieth centuries.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Ain't She A Woman: Let Me Tell You Her Story
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Valerie Fagin
Can you imagine the hustle and bustle of a prosperous colonial seaport town? This interactive tour invites you to discover the world of past and present Portsmouth from the perspective of African-born and next generations of African American women. Learn how, in spite of enslavement and the burdens of racial discrimination, these pioneers of change fought for justice and freedom, defied a sitting United States president, and educated generations of children. Hear the stories and celebrate the resilience, versatility, and courage revealed in our shared seacoast his/herstory!
Not a Slave, yet not Free: Harriet E. Wilson and the Abolition Movement
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: David Nelson
Town: Milford, NH
Harriet E. Wilson was the first known African American to publish a novel on the North American continent. Born a free person of color in New Hampshire, Wilson was orphaned when young and bound as an indentured servant until the age of 18. Follow a trail to places where the child-servant went as she was growing up and where she struggled to make a living. Learn about Harriet's only son, George, who died in a poor house while she was trying to survive as a widow.
Wilson's book was published in 1859 with her original title, a device to engage the reader in her fictionized autobiography, Our Nig; or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black, in a Two-Story White House, North, Showing that Slavery's Shadows Fall Even There. She wrote only one novel. Wilson went on to be known as a Spiritualist and was paid on the public lecture circuit to talk about her life.
Meeting Place: The Oval in Milford, NH.
Black Family Life: Building Community in Bondage and in Freedom
Join Daniel Comly for a moving walking tour that reveals the deeply human stories of love,
family, and resilience in early Portsmouth.
Guided through careful research and a commitment to sharing histories beyond his own
lived experience, Daniel brings forward the voices and lives of Black families who, in a time
marked by enslavement, separation, and uncertainty, formed relationships, married, raised
children, and built strong communities.
As you walk through the streets where their lives unfolded, you’ll hear powerful, true stories
of connection and courage—stories of families who refused to be defined by the limits
placed on them and instead claimed their place, their dignity, and their future.
Through storytelling and conversation, this tour invites you to reflect on what it means to
build a home, sustain love, and fight to belong.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Black Family Life: Building Community in Bondage and in Freedom
Join Daniel Comly for a moving walking tour that reveals the deeply human stories of love,
family, and resilience in early Portsmouth.
Guided through careful research and a commitment to sharing histories beyond his own
lived experience, Daniel brings forward the voices and lives of Black families who, in a time
marked by enslavement, separation, and uncertainty, formed relationships, married, raised
children, and built strong communities.
As you walk through the streets where their lives unfolded, you’ll hear powerful, true stories
of connection and courage—stories of families who refused to be defined by the limits
placed on them and instead claimed their place, their dignity, and their future.
Through storytelling and conversation, this tour invites you to reflect on what it means to
build a home, sustain love, and fight to belong.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Reclaiming History, Declaring Dignity: Celebratory Bus Tour Honoring America's 250th!
The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire, in partnership with the Independence Museum and Exeter Historical Society, invited the public to join us for a moving, immersive journey through New Hampshire’s Black Revolutionary War history.
Our day begins on Pierce Island in Portsmouth with an opening ceremony and musket salute, grounding us in the revolutionary moment when ideas of liberty, freedom, and independence were articulated, but not yet extended at all. From there, participants will board a bus for a guided historical tour tracing the lives and legacies of Black New Hampshire patriots from Portsmouth, New Market, and Exeter.
The tour begins in Portsmouth with Prince Whipple, an enslaved man who became a Revolutionary War soldier and signer of the 1779 Petition of Freedom, one of the earliest collective demands by enslaved Africans in New England for emancipation.
We then travel to Newmarket, the hometown of Wentworth Cheswell, a patriot, historian, and town leader who is reported to have carried out his own Sons of Liberty ride, much like Paul Revere’s.
Our journey continues to Exeter, New Hampshire’s then capital, where revolutionary ideas were debated, drafted, and put into motion. There, we will hear about Jude Hall, who earned his freedom by fighting at Bunker Hill, and many other veterans. In Exeter, we will also visit the American Independence Museum for lunch and to view a special exhibit that situates New Hampshire within the broader struggle for independence, while inviting us to reflect on whose freedom was secured, and whose was deferred.
We will return to Portsmouth having traveled not just across geography, but across memory and meaning. This tour, part of our Juneteeth celebration, asks us to reckon honestly with American freedom - its promises, its contradictions, and its unfinished work. At a time when Black history is being erased, challenged, or silenced, this program calls us to look at our shared American history with clear, dispassionate eyes. By centering the stories of Black patriots, we gain a fuller, truer understanding of the Revolution and are reminded that the fight for liberty has always been multiracial, complex, and ongoing.
Meeting Place: Peirce Island, Portsmouth, NH
Limited to 30 people
War and Belonging: Black Soldiers of Portsmouth
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Bob Sheppard
Join Sankofa Scholar Bob Shepard, son of a Tuskegee Airman, for a powerful new walking
tour exploring the legacy of Black military service from the Revolutionary War to the
Vietnam War era.
Walk the streets of Portsmouth as you uncover the story of Prince Whipple, who fought for
freedom during the American Revolution; hear about the imprisonment of Harvey and
Daniels at the Navy Yard during the Vietnam War; and learn about Rosary Cooper’s vital
contributions on the home front during World War II.
Led by a guide with a personal legacy of military service, this story-driven tour invites you to
reflect on the meaning of service, sacrifice, and belonging.
Be among the first to experience this new tour—reserve your spot today.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Portsmouth Green Book Tour
This Sankofa Tour describes some of the local people and places that would help African American travelers find safety and avoid the humiliation often experienced in the North, where racial discrimination could legally prohibit Black people from entering the same spaces as fellow citizens who were white. Many variations of the now-famous "Negro Motorist Green Book" identified useful local area information for travelers. All are evidence of the resilience of Black communities to survive the 20th century’s age of apartheid. A guidebook was used as a tool by African American travelers wanting to enjoy themselves without concerns of racism.
Civil rights activists used the travelers’ guides as part of their work, finding Black-owned guest houses and some church people's parlors as safe meeting spots. When the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended legal and de facto segregation, many smaller independent businesses began to disappear.
Every version of the segregation-era Green Book was a valuable resource, but what is not written on those pages is where the real stories and histories are. This is our story.
Kittery's Black Yankees
Sankofa Scholars & Tour Guides: Wanda Dorlean and Erika Varga
Town: Kittery, ME
This tour describes how Africans and their descendants, residents of a northern Atlantic port town, used their resilience and cultural traditions of mutual aid to establish one of Maine's earliest African American communities. You will hear stories about enslaved and freed people living here from colonial times and "Black Yankees" of the modern era, a history often ignored and rarely identified with the heritage of New England.
Meeting Place: Parking Lot of Lil's Cafe | 7 Wallingford Square, Downtown Kittery, ME.
Exploring Dover’s Black History Tour
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Jenny Tibbits (they/them)
Town: Dover, NH
Dover is steeped deep in rich Black history. On this tour, you'll hear about the people enslaved by the Waldron family and how the cotton mill built in Dover fueled slavery in the South. You'll discover the Brown/Mitchell family: Nellie Brown Mitchell (renowned Black opera singer), her brother Edward Brown, (lawyer, who submitted to Congress a petition for a national anti-lynching bill and first Black justice of the peace in New Hampshire), and her husband Charles Mitchell (Civil War hero and first Black person elected to the Massachusetts legislature).
Join us to discover their amazing stories of community, resilience, and courage.
Meeting Place: Woodman Museum | 15 Summer St, Dover, NH.
Ain't She A Woman: Let Me Tell You Her Story
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Valerie Fagin
Can you imagine the hustle and bustle of a prosperous colonial seaport town? This interactive tour invites you to discover the world of past and present Portsmouth from the perspective of African-born and next generations of African American women. Learn how, in spite of enslavement and the burdens of racial discrimination, these pioneers of change fought for justice and freedom, defied a sitting United States president, and educated generations of children. Hear the stories and celebrate the resilience, versatility, and courage revealed in our shared seacoast his/herstory!
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Not a Slave, yet not Free: Harriet E. Wilson and the Abolition Movement
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: David Nelson
Town: Milford, NH
Harriet E. Wilson was the first known African American to publish a novel on the North American continent. Born a free person of color in New Hampshire, Wilson was orphaned when young and bound as an indentured servant until the age of 18. Follow a trail to places where the child-servant went as she was growing up and where she struggled to make a living. Learn about Harriet's only son, George, who died in a poor house while she was trying to survive as a widow.
Wilson's book was published in 1859 with her original title, a device to engage the reader in her fictionized autobiography, Our Nig; or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black, in a Two-Story White House, North, Showing that Slavery's Shadows Fall Even There. She wrote only one novel. Wilson went on to be known as a Spiritualist and was paid on the public lecture circuit to talk about her life.
Meeting Place: The Oval in Milford, NH.
Prince Whipple and the 1779 Petition
Sankofa Tour Guide: Stanford Cross
Experience a unique journey into history on our Living History Tour. Get an intimate understanding of Prince Whipple, the brave men who stood with him in signing the Petition of Freedom, his personal insights into the debates for Independence, and his service in the NH militia. The tour takes you to significant sites of his life after freedom, including his family home and the First Ladies African Charitable School established by his wife Dinah. Discover the lesser-known side of Prince Whipple as an influential event manager.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Black Family Life: Building Community in Bondage and in Freedom
Join Daniel Comly for a moving walking tour that reveals the deeply human stories of love,
family, and resilience in early Portsmouth.
Guided through careful research and a commitment to sharing histories beyond his own
lived experience, Daniel brings forward the voices and lives of Black families who, in a time
marked by enslavement, separation, and uncertainty, formed relationships, married, raised
children, and built strong communities.
As you walk through the streets where their lives unfolded, you’ll hear powerful, true stories
of connection and courage—stories of families who refused to be defined by the limits
placed on them and instead claimed their place, their dignity, and their future.
Through storytelling and conversation, this tour invites you to reflect on what it means to
build a home, sustain love, and fight to belong.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Thirst for Freedom: From NH's Slave Trade to Its Civil Rights Movement
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Nur Shoop
Colonial Portsmouth newspapers testify to local involvement in the slave trade, runaway freedom-seekers, abolitionists, and anti-abolitionist activities, followed by conflicting opinions of the Civil War. In the 20th century, the legacy of that early history was reflected locally in newspaper reports of the struggles to end de facto segregation in housing, employment, and public places. This tour includes many of those historic landmarks from the early seventeenth through the twentieth centuries.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Black Family Life: Building Community in Bondage and in Freedom
Join Daniel Comly for a moving walking tour that reveals the deeply human stories of love,
family, and resilience in early Portsmouth.
Guided through careful research and a commitment to sharing histories beyond his own
lived experience, Daniel brings forward the voices and lives of Black families who, in a time
marked by enslavement, separation, and uncertainty, formed relationships, married, raised
children, and built strong communities.
As you walk through the streets where their lives unfolded, you’ll hear powerful, true stories
of connection and courage—stories of families who refused to be defined by the limits
placed on them and instead claimed their place, their dignity, and their future.
Through storytelling and conversation, this tour invites you to reflect on what it means to
build a home, sustain love, and fight to belong.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Lives Bound Together: The Washingtons & Ona Marie Judge in NH
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Sonya Arroyo
During President George Washington’s final months in office, a woman named Ona Marie Judge was enslaved in the household of the First Family. In the spring of 1775, she sought her freedom, escaping from the Washingtons' executive mansion in Philadelphia with the aid of that city’s free Black community and making her way to Portsmouth. On this tour, you will hear the true story of Judge’s quest for freedom and the President’s relentless efforts to get her back. See the waterfront where she lands and visit the properties of some of America’s most famous families: the Langdons, Whipples, and Lears, whose stories were also bound to hers.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Ain't She A Woman: Let Me Tell You Her Story
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Lionel Loveless
Can you imagine the hustle and bustle of a prosperous colonial seaport town? This interactive tour invites you to discover the world of past and present Portsmouth from the perspective of African-born and next generations of African American women. Learn how, in spite of enslavement and the burdens of racial discrimination, these pioneers of change fought for justice and freedom, defied a sitting United States president, and educated generations of children. Hear the stories and celebrate the resilience, versatility, and courage revealed in our shared seacoast his/herstory!
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Exploring Dover’s Black History Tour
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Jenny Tibbits (they/them)
Town: Dover, NH
Dover is steeped deep in rich Black history. On this tour, you'll hear about the people enslaved by the Waldron family and how the cotton mill built in Dover fueled slavery in the South. You'll discover the Brown/Mitchell family: Nellie Brown Mitchell (renowned Black opera singer), her brother Edward Brown, (lawyer, who submitted to Congress a petition for a national anti-lynching bill and first Black justice of the peace in New Hampshire), and her husband Charles Mitchell (Civil War hero and first Black person elected to the Massachusetts legislature).
Join us to discover their amazing stories of community, resilience, and courage.
Meeting Place: Woodman Museum | 15 Summer St, Dover, NH.
A Walking Tour of Exeter’s Racial History
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Barbara Rimkunas
Town: Exeter, NH
Walk in the footsteps of Exeter’s earlier generations and explore the racial history of the town -- the conflicts, concessions, and changes that have taken place over time and continue to shape its future. Learn about Exeter's legacy related to Atlantic slave trading and hear stories about African Americans who helped shape the town's history.
Learning Exeter’s history can contribute to a richer community dialogue about its present and future.
Meeting Place: Exeter Town Hall | 10 Front St, Exeter.
Prince Whipple and the 1779 Petition
Sankofa Tour Guide: Stanford Cross
Experience a unique journey into history on our Living History Tour. Get an intimate understanding of Prince Whipple, the brave men who stood with him in signing the Petition of Freedom, his personal insights into the debates for Independence, and his service in the NH militia. The tour takes you to significant sites of his life after freedom, including his family home and the First Ladies African Charitable School established by his wife Dinah. Discover the lesser-known side of Prince Whipple as an influential event manager.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Exploring Dover’s Black History Tour
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Jenny Tibbits (they/them)
Town: Dover, NH
Dover is steeped deep in rich Black history. On this tour, you'll hear about the people enslaved by the Waldron family and how the cotton mill built in Dover fueled slavery in the South. You'll discover the Brown/Mitchell family: Nellie Brown Mitchell (renowned Black opera singer), her brother Edward Brown, (lawyer, who submitted to Congress a petition for a national anti-lynching bill and first Black justice of the peace in New Hampshire), and her husband Charles Mitchell (Civil War hero and first Black person elected to the Massachusetts legislature).
Join us to discover their amazing stories of community, resilience, and courage.
Meeting Place: Woodman Museum | 15 Summer St, Dover, NH.
Black Family Life: Building Community in Bondage and in Freedom
Join Daniel Comly for a moving walking tour that reveals the deeply human stories of love,
family, and resilience in early Portsmouth.
Guided through careful research and a commitment to sharing histories beyond his own
lived experience, Daniel brings forward the voices and lives of Black families who, in a time
marked by enslavement, separation, and uncertainty, formed relationships, married, raised
children, and built strong communities.
As you walk through the streets where their lives unfolded, you’ll hear powerful, true stories
of connection and courage—stories of families who refused to be defined by the limits
placed on them and instead claimed their place, their dignity, and their future.
Through storytelling and conversation, this tour invites you to reflect on what it means to
build a home, sustain love, and fight to belong.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Exploring Hancock’s Black History: A Hike to Jack’s Pond
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Eric Aldrich
Town: Hancock, NH
Join JerriAnne Boggis, executive director of the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire, and Hancock writer Eric Aldrich to see where the Due family lived and farmed in Hancock in the late 1770s and early 1800s. We'll visit the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests' Welch Family Farm and Forest and see the former homestead of the Due family, described in early U.S. censuses as free people of color. Also living here off and on was Jack Ware, enslaved as a child in Africa, who later became free.
We'll take a short hike to see where Betsey Due lived until the 1840s and hear Betsey's story of resistance to the Hancock church. We'll also hear from the Forest Society's Dave Anderson about the abandonment of New Hampshire farms in the 1800s and creative ways that the Welch family and others managed to continue farming into the 20th century. There will be some light trail hiking with uneven terrain and little elevation gain. Total hike distance both ways, 1.5 miles. Tour begins with a short bus ride from Hancock Town Offices to Welch Farm.
Co-sponsored with the Harris Center for Conservation Education and Society for the Protection of N.H. Forests.
Meeting Place: Hancock Town Offices, Hancock, NH
A Walking Tour of Exeter’s Racial History
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Barbara Rimkunas
Town: Exeter, NH
Walk in the footsteps of Exeter’s earlier generations and explore the racial history of the town -- the conflicts, concessions, and changes that have taken place over time and continue to shape its future. Learn about Exeter's legacy related to Atlantic slave trading and hear stories about African Americans who helped shape the town's history.
Learning Exeter’s history can contribute to a richer community dialogue about its present and future.
Meeting Place: Exeter Town Hall | 10 Front St, Exeter.
Lives Bound Together: The Washingtons & Ona Marie Judge in NH
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Sonya Arroyo
During President George Washington’s final months in office, a woman named Ona Marie Judge was enslaved in the household of the First Family. In the spring of 1775, she sought her freedom, escaping from the Washingtons' executive mansion in Philadelphia with the aid of that city’s free Black community and making her way to Portsmouth. On this tour, you will hear the true story of Judge’s quest for freedom and the President’s relentless efforts to get her back. See the waterfront where she lands and visit the properties of some of America’s most famous families: the Langdons, Whipples, and Lears, whose stories were also bound to hers.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Kittery's Black Yankees
Sankofa Scholars & Tour Guides: Lillian Buckley and Meaghan Dunn
Town: Kittery, ME
This tour describes how Africans and their descendants, residents of a northern Atlantic port town, used their resilience and cultural traditions of mutual aid to establish one of Maine's earliest African American communities. You will hear stories about enslaved and freed people living here from colonial times and "Black Yankees" of the modern era, a history often ignored and rarely identified with the heritage of New England.
Meeting Place: Parking Lot of Lil's Cafe | 7 Wallingford Square, Downtown Kittery, ME.
A Walking Tour of Exeter’s Racial History
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Barbara Rimkunas
Town: Exeter, NH
Walk in the footsteps of Exeter’s earlier generations and explore the racial history of the town -- the conflicts, concessions, and changes that have taken place over time and continue to shape its future. Learn about Exeter's legacy related to Atlantic slave trading and hear stories about African Americans who helped shape the town's history.
Learning Exeter’s history can contribute to a richer community dialogue about its present and future.
Meeting Place: Exeter Town Hall | 10 Front St, Exeter.
A Small New Hampshire Town Remembers Its Black History
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guides: Rebecca Courser & Lynn Clark
Town: Warner, NH
Rebecca Courser and Lynn Clark will lead a bus tour to explore the Black history of the Davisville section of Warner. We will see locations in Davisville where Black residents lived, worked, and attended school in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Meeting Place: Warner Town Hall | 5 East Main Street, Warner, NH
This tour will be from 1 PM to 3 PM. Please wear sturdy walking shoes.
Thirst for Freedom: From NH's Slave Trade to Its Civil Rights Movement
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Nur Shoop
Colonial Portsmouth newspapers testify to local involvement in the slave trade, runaway freedom-seekers, abolitionists, and anti-abolitionist activities, followed by conflicting opinions of the Civil War. In the 20th century, the legacy of that early history was reflected locally in newspaper reports of the struggles to end de facto segregation in housing, employment, and public places. This tour includes many of those historic landmarks from the early seventeenth through the twentieth centuries.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Not a Slave, yet not Free: Harriet E. Wilson and the Abolition Movement
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: David Nelson
Town: Milford, NH
Harriet E. Wilson was the first known African American to publish a novel on the North American continent. Born a free person of color in New Hampshire, Wilson was orphaned when young and bound as an indentured servant until the age of 18. Follow a trail to places where the child-servant went as she was growing up and where she struggled to make a living. Learn about Harriet's only son, George, who died in a poor house while she was trying to survive as a widow.
Wilson's book was published in 1859 with her original title, a device to engage the reader in her fictionized autobiography, Our Nig; or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black, in a Two-Story White House, North, Showing that Slavery's Shadows Fall Even There. She wrote only one novel. Wilson went on to be known as a Spiritualist and was paid on the public lecture circuit to talk about her life.
Meeting Place: The Oval in Milford, NH.
Lives Bound Together: The Washingtons & Ona Marie Judge in NH
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Sonya Arroyo
During President George Washington’s final months in office, a woman named Ona Marie Judge was enslaved in the household of the First Family. In the spring of 1775, she sought her freedom, escaping from the Washingtons' executive mansion in Philadelphia with the aid of that city’s free Black community and making her way to Portsmouth. On this tour, you will hear the true story of Judge’s quest for freedom and the President’s relentless efforts to get her back. See the waterfront where she lands and visit the properties of some of America’s most famous families: the Langdons, Whipples, and Lears, whose stories were also bound to hers.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Prince Whipple and the 1779 Petition
Sankofa Tour Guide: Stanford Cross
Experience a unique journey into history on our Living History Tour. Get an intimate understanding of Prince Whipple, the brave men who stood with him in signing the Petition of Freedom, his personal insights into the debates for Independence, and his service in the NH militia. The tour takes you to significant sites of his life after freedom, including his family home and the First Ladies African Charitable School established by his wife Dinah. Discover the lesser-known side of Prince Whipple as an influential event manager.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Ain't She A Woman: Let Me Tell You Her Story
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Lionel Loveless
Can you imagine the hustle and bustle of a prosperous colonial seaport town? This interactive tour invites you to discover the world of past and present Portsmouth from the perspective of African-born and next generations of African American women. Learn how, in spite of enslavement and the burdens of racial discrimination, these pioneers of change fought for justice and freedom, defied a sitting United States president, and educated generations of children. Hear the stories and celebrate the resilience, versatility, and courage revealed in our shared seacoast his/herstory!
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Thirst for Freedom: From NH's Slave Trade to Its Civil Rights Movement
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Nur Shoop
Colonial Portsmouth newspapers testify to local involvement in the slave trade, runaway freedom-seekers, abolitionists, and anti-abolitionist activities, followed by conflicting opinions of the Civil War. In the 20th century, the legacy of that early history was reflected locally in newspaper reports of the struggles to end de facto segregation in housing, employment, and public places. This tour includes many of those historic landmarks from the early seventeenth through the twentieth centuries.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
War and Belonging: Black Soldiers of Portsmouth
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Bob Sheppard
Join Sankofa Scholar Bob Shepard, son of a Tuskegee Airman, for a powerful new walking
tour exploring the legacy of Black military service from the Revolutionary War to the
Vietnam War era.
Walk the streets of Portsmouth as you uncover the story of Prince Whipple, who fought for
freedom during the American Revolution; hear about the imprisonment of Harvey and
Daniels at the Navy Yard during the Vietnam War; and learn about Rosary Cooper’s vital
contributions on the home front during World War II.
Led by a guide with a personal legacy of military service, this story-driven tour invites you to
reflect on the meaning of service, sacrifice, and belonging.
Be among the first to experience this new tour—reserve your spot today.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Meet Jack Stains, a “Black Jack” in Historic Old Portsmouth
** 2026 Tour Date To Be Scheduled ***
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: TBD
Seafaring was one of the most significant occupations among both enslaved and free Black
men between 1740 and 1865, when Black mariners sailed on whalers, warships, and
privateers. Some were enslaved and forced to work at sea, but by 1800, most seamen were
free, legally or by self-emancipation, to seek adventure and economic opportunity aboard
ship. On this tour, you will meet Jack Staines, husband to Ona Judge Staines, who was
enslaved by the President and Martha Washington, and experience Portsmouth through the
life of one of its Black mariners.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Port of Entry: Boys and Girls for Sale
Step onto the historic streets of Portsmouth and confront a past often left untold.
— Through the voices of young people, bringing it to life today.
Led by our high school Sankofa Scholars, this powerful walking tour centers the lives of enslaved children—boys and girls whose youth did not protect them from being bought, sold, and forced into labor. As you visit the waterfront, wharves, and auction sites connected to the Atlantic Slave Trade, you’ll hear stories that reveal just how young many were when their lives were defined by exploitation—traded for "cash or good lumber," and made to serve in homes, on docks, and at sea.
What makes this experience especially moving is who is telling the story. Our youth guides bring forward the stories of children from the past, creating a powerful connection across generations and inviting deeper reflection on freedom, humanity, and responsibility.
This is not just a history lesson—it is a shared moment of truth-telling, led by the next
generation.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
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Past Events
Ain't She A Woman: Let Me Tell You Her Story
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Valerie Fagin
Can you imagine the hustle and bustle of a prosperous colonial seaport town? This interactive tour invites you to discover the world of past and present Portsmouth from the perspective of African-born and next generations of African American women. Learn how, in spite of enslavement and the burdens of racial discrimination, these pioneers of change fought for justice and freedom, defied a sitting United States president, and educated generations of children. Hear the stories and celebrate the resilience, versatility, and courage revealed in our shared seacoast his/herstory!
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
“On the Pulse of Morning:” The Future of African American Oratory | EWH Tea Talks 2026 #4
Sunday, February 22 | 2:00 PM | Portsmouth Public Library | Portsmouth, NH
A new generation of African American leaders is shaping the future of oratory through politics, activism, poetry, and ministry. This closing conversation highlights emerging voices that blend tradition with innovation, demonstrating how young speakers, poets, and activists continue to inspire, mobilize, and lead movements for justice in the 21st century.
“Unbound & Unbossed,” Black Female Oratory | EWH Tea Talks 2026 #3
Sunday, February 15 | 2:00 PM | Portsmouth Public Library | Portsmouth, NH
From the stirring voices of Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, and Fannie Lou Hamer to contemporary trailblazers like Amanda Gorman and Imani Perry, Black women have advanced truth-telling through the power of speech. This discussion celebrates their rhetorical brilliance, unflinching advocacy, and unique ability to weave personal experience with collective struggle in the ongoing fight for justice and equality.
"The Knock at Midnight", Black Preacher as Orator | EWH Tea Talks 2026 #2
Sunday, February 8 | 4:00 PM | Temple Israel | Portsmouth, NH
The Black preacher has long held a sacred and central role in African American public speech. Beyond their role as religious leaders, preachers have historically served as political voices, cultural transmitters, community organizers, and skilled rhetoricians. This dialogue explores how the pulpit evolved into both a sanctuary and a platform for liberation, influencing the moral and political discourse within communities.
PBS Screening of "American Revolution"
The Black Heritage Trail of NH, The Music Hall Lounge, and New Hampshire PBS present a special screening of excerpts from THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, a film by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt. Following the screening, is a moderated conversation between author and historian Glenn Knoblock and Black heritage Trail executive director JerriAnne Boggis, examining the role of African Americans in the American Revolution.
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, a six-part, 12-hour documentary directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt, examines how America's founding turned the world upside down. Thirteen British colonies on the Atlantic Coast rose in rebellion, won their independence, and established a new form of government that radically reshaped the continent and inspired centuries of democratic movements around the globe.
NHPBS in partnership with organizations across the state will host a series of interactive community screeners and conversations exploring the themes of democracy, liberty, freedom and independence.
“The State of the Union,” The Legacy of African American Speechmaking | EWH Tea Talks 2026 #1
Sunday, February 1 | 2:00 PM | Portsmouth Public Library | Portsmouth, NH
This opening conversation traces the evolution of Black speechmaking, from the fiery antislavery addresses of Frederick Douglass delivered here in New Hampshire to the soaring cadences of Sojourner Truth, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Malcolm X. Participants will explore how oratory served as both a survival strategy and a weapon of resistance, affirming African American speech as a vital force for social change.
Thirst for Freedom: From NH's Slave Trade to Its Civil Rights Movement
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Nur Shoop
Colonial Portsmouth newspapers testify to local involvement in the slave trade, runaway freedom-seekers, abolitionists, and anti-abolitionist activities, followed by conflicting opinions of the Civil War. In the 20th century, the legacy of that early history was reflected locally in newspaper reports of the struggles to end de facto segregation in housing, employment, and public places. This tour includes many of those historic landmarks from the early seventeenth through the twentieth centuries.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Black New England Conference 2025 | State of the Union: A Critical Perspective on Black America from 1776 to 2026
19th Annual Black New England Conference:
The State of The Union: A Critical Perspective on Black America from 1776 to 2026
Location: Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester, NH
#BNEC2025
On Saturday Night We Were Husband and Wife: The Black Family
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Dan Comly
Despite many obstacles, Black men and women — both enslaved and free — met, nurtured relationships, married, and built families. Learn about obstacles and how they were overcome. True stories about these families describe how Portsmouth’s community of African people and their descendants claimed their place as Americans.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
A Small New Hampshire Town Remembers Its Black History
Sankofa Tour Guides: Rebecca Courser & Lynn Clark
We will meet at the Soldier’s Monument in Warner and carpool to the village of Waterloo where we will explore its Black history. The tour will include the village school, train station, Camp Newton (a summer camp for children whose parents were overseas missionaries), and homes that Black people worked in, owned, or rented. Employers Nehemiah Ordway, one time governor of the Dakota territories and U.S. Senator William E. Chandler summered in Waterloo and ties the little village into national politics. Bring a folding chair, water, and wear closed-toed walking shoes.
Meeting Place: Warner Town Hall | 5 East Main Street, Warner, NH
This tour will be from 1 PM to 3 PM. Please wear sturdy walking shoes.
Things They Carried: An African Philosophy on War, Surviving Enslavement and Citizenship
SATURDAY, October 4, 2025 | 2:00 PM
Location: St. Paul’s Church | 21 Centre Street | Concord, NH
On Saturday Night We Were Husband and Wife: The Black Family
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Dan Comly
Despite many obstacles, Black men and women — both enslaved and free — met, nurtured relationships, married, and built families. Learn about obstacles and how they were overcome. True stories about these families describe how Portsmouth’s community of African people and their descendants claimed their place as Americans.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Hopes and Impediments: War and Strategies for Belonging
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2025 | 2:00 PM| Warner Historical Society
Location: Warner Town Hall | 5 E Main Street | Warner, NH
Exploring Dover’s Black History Tour
Dover is steeped deep in rich Black history. On this tour, you'll hear about the people enslaved by the Waldron family and how the cotton mill built in Dover fueled slavery in the South. You'll discover the Brown/Mitchell family: Nellie Brown Mitchell (renowned Black opera singer), her brother Edward Brown, (lawyer, who submitted to Congress a petition for a national anti-lynching bill and first Black justice of the peace in New Hampshire), and her husband Charles Mitchell (Civil War hero and first Black person elected to the Massachusetts legislature).
Join us to discover their amazing stories of community, resilience, and courage.
Meeting Place: Woodman Museum | 15 Summer St, Dover, NH.
Valerie Cunningham Marker Installation
Thursday, September 18 | 5:00 PM | SAACC | Portsmouth, NH
Last year, we proudly unveiled the Valerie Cunningham Historic Marker, honoring the incredible contributions of our founder, a historian and preservationist, whose vision shaped the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire. On September 18th at 5pm, join us at the Seacoast African American Cultural Center as we come together to honor her lifetime of dedication, scholarship, and leadership in preserving and sharing African American history in New Hampshire. This is more than an installation: it’s a celebration of resilience, vision, and community.
Exploring Hancock’s Black History: A Hike to Jack’s Pond
Sankofa Tour Guide: Eric Aldrich
Nestled below the summits of Mount Skatutakee and Thumb Mountain in Hancock, NH, Jack's pond is a remote and inspiring place. It is named after Jack, a formerly enslaved man who became free and lived near the pond from the late 1700s until his death in 1826. The pond and surrounding land are now protected and managed by the Harris Center for Conservation Education.
Join Eric Aldrich and Susie Spikol of the Harris Center for a 2.5-mile round-trip hike to the pond, where we'll hear about Jack and his close connection with the Due family, free Black people who also lived in Hancock at the time.
The tour is on a hiking trail, moderately strenuous. Sturdy shoes/boots are recommended.
Meeting Place: The Harris Center | 83 King's Highway, Hancock, NH
The Great Migration: Military Service and the Shaping of a Diversified New Hampshire
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2025 | 2:00 PM | Manchester Historical Association
Location: Millyard Museum | 200 Bedford Street | Manchester, NH
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They wanted to Be Found: Archaeological Discoveries from the Portsmouth African Burial Ground
Thursday, August 28 | 6:30 PM | Portsmouth Public Library | Portsmouth, NH
On October 6, 2003, the first evidence of graves emerged at what some old city maps designated as the “Negro Burying Ground.” Dr. Kathleen Wheeler will present the findings from the 2003 and 2008 archaeological investigations that resulted in the discovery of 22 graves beneath Chestnut Street and the exhumation of 13 individuals. She will share some of their stories.
This event is free & open to the public, but space is limited.
On Saturday Night We Were Husband and Wife: The Black Family
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Dan Comly
Despite many obstacles, Black men and women — both enslaved and free — met, nurtured relationships, married, and built families. Learn about obstacles and how they were overcome. True stories about these families describe how Portsmouth’s community of African people and their descendants claimed their place as Americans.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Meet Jack Stains, a "Black Jack" in Historic Old Portsmouth
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Lionel Loveless
Seafaring was one of the most significant occupations among both enslaved and free Black men between 1740 and 1865, when Black mariners sailed on whalers, warships, and privateers. Some were enslaved and forced to work at sea, but by 1800, most seamen were free, legally or by self-emancipation, to seek adventure and economic opportunity aboard ship. On this tour, you will meet Jack Staines, husband to Ona Judge Staines, who was enslaved by the President and Martha Washington, and experience Portsmouth through the life of one of its Black mariners.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Port of Entry: Boys and Girls for Sale
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Saniyah Bolton
Local newspapers carried merchants' ads for ships returning to the port of Portsmouth laden with cargo from Atlantic Slave Trade ports on the West Coast of Africa, the West Indies, and the Atlantic coastal cities of Colonial America from Maine to Louisiana. Visit local wharves and auction sites related to the Atlantic slave trade, where a captive could be exchanged for "cash or good lumber" to serve in the master's house or work on the docks or aboard a ship. See how slavery in the North compared to the South.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Meet Jack Stains, a "Black Jack" in Historic Old Portsmouth
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Lionel Loveless
Seafaring was one of the most significant occupations among both enslaved and free Black men between 1740 and 1865, when Black mariners sailed on whalers, warships, and privateers. Some were enslaved and forced to work at sea, but by 1800, most seamen were free, legally or by self-emancipation, to seek adventure and economic opportunity aboard ship. On this tour, you will meet Jack Staines, husband to Ona Judge Staines, who was enslaved by the President and Martha Washington, and experience Portsmouth through the life of one of its Black mariners.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Port of Entry: Boys and Girls for Sale
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Saniyah Bolton
Local newspapers carried merchants' ads for ships returning to the port of Portsmouth laden with cargo from Atlantic Slave Trade ports on the West Coast of Africa, the West Indies, and the Atlantic coastal cities of Colonial America from Maine to Louisiana. Visit local wharves and auction sites related to the Atlantic slave trade, where a captive could be exchanged for "cash or good lumber" to serve in the master's house or work on the docks or aboard a ship. See how slavery in the North compared to the South.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Hampton Historic Marker Unveiling
Located at the Lane Memorial Library, 2 Academy Ave, Hampton, NH.
Honoring Dinah Small Burdoo.
Date: Saturday, July 12, 2025
Time: 1 PM
Location: Lane Memorial Library, Hampton, NH
More details to come.
Exploring Dover’s Black History Tour
Dover is steeped deep in rich Black history. On this tour, you'll hear about the people enslaved by the Waldron family and how the cotton mill built in Dover fueled slavery in the South. You'll discover the Brown/Mitchell family: Nellie Brown Mitchell (renowned Black opera singer), her brother Edward Brown, (lawyer, who submitted to Congress a petition for a national anti-lynching bill and first Black justice of the peace in New Hampshire), and her husband Charles Mitchell (Civil War hero and first Black person elected to the Massachusetts legislature).
Join us to discover their amazing stories of community, resilience, and courage.
Meeting Place: Woodman Museum | 15 Summer St, Dover, NH.
On Saturday Night We Were Husband and Wife: The Black Family
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Dan Comly
Despite many obstacles, Black men and women — both enslaved and free — met, nurtured relationships, married, and built families. Learn about obstacles and how they were overcome. True stories about these families describe how Portsmouth’s community of African people and their descendants claimed their place as Americans.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Portsmouth Green Book Tour
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Nur Shoop
This Sankofa Tour describes some of the local people and places that would help African American travelers find safety and avoid the humiliation often experienced in the North, where racial discrimination could legally prohibit Black people from entering the same spaces as fellow citizens who were white. Many variations of the now-famous “Negro Motorist Green Book” identified useful local area information for travelers. All are evidence of the resilience of Black communities to survive the 20th century’s age of apartheid. A guidebook was used as a tool by African American travelers wanting to enjoy themselves without concerns of racism.
Civil rights activists used the travelers’ guides as part of their work, finding Black-owned guest houses and some church people's parlors as safe meeting spots. When the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended legal and de facto segregation, many smaller independent businesses began to disappear.
Every version of the segregation-era Green Book was a valuable resource, but what is not written on those pages is where the real stories and histories are. This is our story.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Juneteenth Freedom Walk
Meet at John Paul Jones Memorial Park in Kittery, ME
Thursday, June 19
9:30 AM
A Drumbeat for Spiritual Renewal
African Burying Ground Memorial
Portsmouth, NH
Thursday, June 19
11:00 AM
An Evening of Gospel Music Featuring Howard University Gospel Choir
The Music Hall
Portsmouth, NH
Sunday, June 15
4:00 PM
Restoring the Erased: AI & AR in Black History
Portsmouth Public Library
175 Parrott Ave
Portsmouth, NH
Saturday, June 14
12:30 PM
A Juneteenth Celebration of Black Resistance, Joy & Liberation
The Venue at Portwalk Place
Portsmouth, NH
Saturday, June 14
7:00 PM
$45 Per Person
Unveiling Ceremony of Headstone Honoring Dinah Chase Whipple
North Cemetery
Portsmouth, NH
Friday, June 13
1:00 PM
Erased Bloodlines: The Black Descendants of the “Founding Fathers” and Those They Enslaved
3S Artspace
319 Vaughan Street
Portsmouth, NH 03801
Friday, June 13
6:00 PM
Ona Marie Judge Staines: A Legacy of Resistance
Portsmouth, NH
Tuesday and Wednesday
June 10-11
School Tours
Jefferson in Paris, a Film Discussion
Temple Israel
200 State Street
Portsmouth, NH
Saturday, June 8
2:00 PM
Juneteenth Tour: Lives Bound Together: The Washingtons & Ona Marie Judge in NH
BHTNH Headquarters
222 Court Street
Portsmouth, NH
Saturday, June 7
2:00 PM
Meet Jack Stains, a "Black Jack" in Historic Old Portsmouth
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Lionel Loveless
Seafaring was one of the most significant occupations among both enslaved and free Black men between 1740 and 1865, when Black mariners sailed on whalers, warships, and privateers. Some were enslaved and forced to work at sea, but by 1800, most seamen were free, legally or by self-emancipation, to seek adventure and economic opportunity aboard ship. On this tour, you will meet Jack Staines, husband to Ona Judge Staines, who was enslaved by the President and Martha Washington, and experience Portsmouth through the life of one of its Black mariners.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Port of Entry: Boys and Girls for Sale
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Saniyah Bolton
Local newspapers carried merchants' ads for ships returning to the port of Portsmouth laden with cargo from Atlantic Slave Trade ports on the West Coast of Africa, the West Indies, and the Atlantic coastal cities of Colonial America from Maine to Louisiana. Visit local wharves and auction sites related to the Atlantic slave trade, where a captive could be exchanged for "cash or good lumber" to serve in the master's house or work on the docks or aboard a ship. See how slavery in the North compared to the South.
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Ain't She A Woman: Let Me Tell You Her Story
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Valerie Fagin
Can you imagine the hustle and bustle of a prosperous colonial seaport town? This interactive tour invites you to discover the world of past and present Portsmouth from the perspective of African-born and next generations of African American women. Learn how, in spite of enslavement and the burdens of racial discrimination, these pioneers of change fought for justice and freedom, defied a sitting United States president, and educated generations of children. Hear the stories and celebrate the resilience, versatility, and courage revealed in our shared seacoast his/herstory!
Meeting Place: BHTNH Headquarters | 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH.
Eyes on the Prize: Protests, Movements, and the Road Ahead
The Great Migration: Military Service and the Shaping of a Diversified New Hampshire
Hopes and Impediments: War and Strategies for Belonging
Things They Carried: An African Philosophy on War, Surviving Enslavement and Citizenship
Black New England Conference 2024 | Living Out Loud: Embracing the Intersectionality of Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation
The intersectionality of race, gender, and sexual orientation has been historically intertwined, reflecting the complex dynamics of power, privilege, and oppression within society. Throughout history, marginalized communities have faced multiple forms of discrimination and marginalization, exacerbating the struggle for recognition, equality, and justice.
From the civil rights movement to voting rights to the LGBTQ+ rights movement, individuals at the intersections of race, gender, and sexual orientation have played pivotal roles in challenging oppressive systems and advocating for social change. Individuals who navigate multiple marginalized identities continue to influence contemporary experiences through the arts, culture, and activism.
The 18th Annual Black New England Conference will highlight the history of Black LGBTQ trailblazers and their contributions to American history, explore evolving cultural norms, gender roles and presentation, depiction in popular culture, and emerging movements, and offer a forward-looking perspective, envisioning potential future trends and possibilities for greater inclusivity, equity, and social change. We celebrate success stories of individuals and institutions that serve as beacons of hope for current generations to live out their identities authentically.
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Explore Programs
Connect with history and community through events and programs that inspire, educate, and celebrate the rich heritage of New Hampshire’s Black culture.
Juneteenth Celebration
Join us for Juneteenth, the oldest known nationally celebrated event commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.
Black New England Conference
Come back each year to engage with a different topic of African American culture, history, and experience.
Elinor Williams Hooker Tea Talks Series
Engage with a series of panel discussions relating to New Hampshire’s Black history and African American culture.
Frederick Douglass Statewide Readings
Deepen your understanding of the 4th of July with a reading and discussion of a speech by abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
The Black Matter is Life Poetry Series
Examine the work of Black poets and explore the rich tradition and innovation found in African American poetry.
Spring Symposium
Deep dive into a topic of African American history through interactive dialogue with local experts.
Preserve Black History in New Hampshire