Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail
2020 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.
Unless otherwise noted in the description, tours meet at our office at 222 Court Street.
Cost: Tours are $20 per person; $15 (with ID) for Seniors & Military; $10 Students.
Tours are 90 minutes long.
Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic group size is limited to 5 people per tour, 10 people per tour if they are all from the same family or household.
Please plan to arrive at least 15 minutes prior to departure time. If you do not arrive by 5 minutes before departure time, your spot may be given to another participant.
To safeguard the health of our guides and tour attendees, all participants must wear masks. Our Tour guides will wear face shields and use microphones.
We are asking that all participants pre-register online for a tour. If you have not pre-registered, and if there is space available, we will register you onsite to join the tour.
PLEASE NOTE: As of September 18, 2020, the City of Portsmouth has a mandatory Face Covering Ordinance in effect until January 4, 2021. Details are on the City website here. Face coverings are required both inside and outside with few exceptions, and a $25 fine for non-compliance is in place in the City of Portsmouth.
PLEASE READ and AGREE to BHTNH’s COVID-19 Assumption of Risk Statement.
July 19, Aug 15(FULL), Aug 29(FULL), Sep 19 & Oct 17 | 2:00 pm
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.
July 25 (FULL), Aug 22(Full), Sep 5(FULL), Sep 19, & Oct 24 (FULL) | 10:00 am
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.
Jul 25, Aug 1, Aug 16, Aug 30, Sep 12, Sep 27 & Oct 3(FULL) | 2:00 pm
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.
July 26, Aug 8, Sep 20(FULL), Oct 11, Nov 8(FULL) | 2:00 pm
Oct 10 | 10:00 am
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.
Aug 7(FULL), Aug 28(full) | 10:00 am
Port of Entry: Boys and Girls for Sale
Tour Guide: Caraline Shaheen
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.
Aug 29(FULL), Sep 5(FULL) | 2:00 pm & Oct 3 (FULL), Nov 7(FULL) | 10 am
Lives Bound Together: The Washingtons & Ona Marie Judge in NH
Tour Guide: Sonya Martino
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.
Oct 31 | 2:00 PM (FULL)
We Remember: Cemeteries and Burying Grounds
Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Angela Matthews
The African Burying Ground Memorial is one of at least six locations in the city where Black Americans and Africans have been laid to rest. Hear the stories and remember.
Postponed to 2021
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.
BHTNH Expanded Walking Tours
Milford Black Heritage Trail Guided Tour
Sep 13(FULL), Oct 4 (FULL), Nov 1, 2pm
Not enslaved, yet not free: Harriet E. Wilson and the Abolition Movement
Tour Guide: Kayla Lewis
Harriet E. Wilson was the first African American of any gender to publish a novel on the North American continent. Her novel, Our Nig, or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black was published in 1859. Born a free person of color in New Hampshire, Wilson was orphaned when young and bound until the age of 18 as an indentured servant. This tour will take you on a walk in downtown Milford to see the sites connected to Wilson and her story.
Meeting place: At the Oval in Downtown Milford
Hancock Black Heritage Trail Guided Tour
Sunday, October 18, 10am (FULL)
Asserting Freedom: A Black History Tour in Hancock, NH
Tour Guide: Eric Aldrich
Hancock, a quintessential New England village, defies the march of time. At first glance, this little village seems to be slumbering away quite peacefully. However, buried just beneath the Colonial veneer of this seemingly all white town is a vibrant history of early Black settlers who worked, bought land, built homes, challenged the church and struggled for freedom. On this tour you will learner about formerly enslaved people of warner including Jack Ware and members of the Due family. You will also hear the story about the abolitionist meeting at the Town Hall.
This tour meets at the Hancock Town Hall, 50 Main Street,Hancock, NH.
Warner Black Heritage Trail Guided Tours
Postponed to 20201
A Small New Hampshire Town Remembers Its Black History
Tour Guides: Rebecca Courser & Lynn Clark
Historians Rebecca Courser & Lynn Clark will take us on a journey in Warner, NH that will commemorate and make visible the town’s Black community that dates back to the 1700s.
Postponed to 2021
In Honor of Those Who Served: African American Military Veterans
The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is included in this special 2-hour tour on wheels. Details TBA
Postponed to 2021
Meet Cyrus Bruce: A Life in Living Color (Langdon House)
A Living History Presentation by Sankofa Tour Guide
Once enslaved, now free to enter contract labor for wages, Cyrus Bruce is the elegantly tailored footman and major domo 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.
Get the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail Self-guided Tour Book
The full color self-guided walking tour of Portsmouth book has maps and information about Black history in the Seacoast NH area. There are several wonderful books for sale that can be purchased on our Website Here.
