Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail
2019 Sankofa Guided Walking Tours
Africans have contributed to the economic and cultural fabric of New Hampshire since the 1600s. More than 700 Blacks lived in Portsmouth by the time of the Revolution, many of them caught up as chattel in the lucrative Northern slave market while others were part of a marginalized community of free people.
Experience the history and cultural roots of the early African Community in Portsmouth dating from the early 1600s. Trace their journey as you pass by the elegant and stately homes of some of New Hampshire’s most prominent families and hear their stories from our knowledgeable and experienced tour guides who will ensure you get the best out of your tour.
With its distinctive bronze plaques that identify this community, from its colonial-era African Burying Ground to the modern Civil Rights Movement, the Portsmouth Trail serves as a model across the country on what it means to raise public awareness and appreciation for a region not known for its Black history.
Cost: Most tours are $20 per person. Tours are 90 minutes long and the group size is limited to 25 people.
Unless otherwise noted in the description, tours meet at 2 pm at our new office at 222 Court Street.
May 25
Backyards and Root Cellars: The Black Whipples (Moffatt-Ladd House)
Sankofa Scholars & Tour Guide: Kevin Wade Mitchell & Jennifer Belmont-Earl
As focus shifts from the front of the house to the backyards and root cellars of New Hampshire’s historic house museums, we consider the material culture experienced by household servants, including those whose unpaid labor and valuable black bodies helped create white family wealth.
Jun 1, Jul 21, Aug 17, Sep 28, Oct 19
A Quest to Thrive: Economics of Slavery & Portsmouth’s Early Black Community
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Angela Matthews
Institutionalized slavery in Colonial America provided immense wealth and material culture to many European immigrants and their descendants in the Americas, as Portsmouth’s house museums bear witness. This tour brings into focus an economic system dependent upon the international slave trade with its constant supply of kidnapped unpaid African workers and their descendants, who, against the odds, created one of this country’s oldest Black communities.
May 18, Jun 2, Jul 13, Jul 21, Aug 3, Sep 14, Sep 21, Oct 13
Thirst for Freedom: From NH’s Slave Trade to its Civil Rights Movement
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Nur Shoop
Colonial Portsmouth newspapers testify to the local slave trade, runaways, 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 in news about de facto segregation in housing and public places. This tour includes many of those historic landmarks from the early nineteenth through the twentieth centuries.
Jun 9, Jul 27, Aug 10, Oct 5
Lives Bound Together: The Washingtons & Ona Marie Judge in NH
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Tammi Truax
During the Spring of 1796, George Washington’s final months in office, Ona Judge, an enslaved woman owned by the First Family, escaped the Executive Mansion in Philadelphia with the aid of that city’s free Black community and made her way to Portsmouth. On this tour, you will hear the true story of Ona’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 her.
Jun 16, Jul 6, Aug 4, Sep 7,
Meet Jack Stains, a “Black Jack” in Historic Old Portsmouth: A Living History Tour
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Kevin Wade Mitchel as Jack Staines
Seafaring was one of the most significant occupations among both enslaved and free Black men between 1740 and 1865. Black seamen sailed on whalers, warships, and privateers. Some were enslaved and forced to work at sea, but by 1800 most seamen were free to seek adventure and economic opportunity aboard ship. On this tour, you will meet Jack Staines, husband to Ona Judge Staines, the President and Martha Washington’s escaped slave, and experience Portsmouth through the life of one of its Black seamen.
Jun 15, Jul 14, Aug 18, Sept 28
Ain’t She A Woman: Let me tell you her story
Sankofa Tour Guide: Valerie Fagin
Can you imagine the hustle and bustle of a prosperous Colonial seaport town? This tour invites you to discover the world of early Portsmouth from the perspective of African American women. In spite of enslavement and hardship, these women fought for freedom, defied a sitting president, and educated generations of children to follow. Hear their stories about love and faith and struggle, as you walk past the homes of the families who enslaved them.
Jun 23, Jul 20, Aug 11, Oct 12
Port of Entry: Boys and Girls for Sale
Sankofa Tour Guide: Jubilee Byfield
Local newspapers carried merchants’ ads for ships returning to the port of Portsmouth laden with cargo from trade ports on the West Coast of Africa, the West Indies and the middle Atlantic coastal cities of Colonial America. 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.
Jun 15, Jul 13, Aug 10
Black Children in Colonial Portsmouth: Stories of Everyday Life. (Warner House)
Sankofa Scholar: Tammi Truax
Hear the stories of Black children’s work life and living conditions in town and on the farm, by author and storyteller Patricia Wall. Learn how captive child servants experienced Election Day celebrations, funerals, slave auctions, the Revolutionary War, and more.
This tour is from 11 am to noon. Children 8 to 12 free if accompanied by an adult.
Aug 31, Sep 22
Meet Cyrus Bruce: A Life in Living Color (Langdon House)
A Living History Presentation by Sankofa Tour Guide Nathan Harris
Once enslaved, now free to enter contract labor for wages, Cyrus Bruce is the elegantly tailored footman and majordomo serving the household of New Hampshire’s first elected governor after the Revolutionary War. Bruce might be discreet about sharing the personal adventures that led him to Portsmouth but freely describes his role in this mansion and his appreciation for being a member of this vibrant Black community.
Jun 29, Jul 7, Aug 24, Sep 15, Oct 20
Creating A Family Life
Sankofa Tour Guide: Daniel Comly
At the turn of the 19th century, Black abolitionists are changing public attitudes about slavery and challenging racial bias in the courts. In Portsmouth, never-enslaved and newly-freed Black adults share households with still enslaved children and elders. It is a time of possibilities, hope and tension. True stories about these families will describe how a community of African refugees were claiming their place as Americans.
Private GROUP TOURS available all year by reservation. Please call 603-570-8469 for more information.
