The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire is currently launching the 2021 Elinor Williams Hooker Tea Talk Series, a free virtual series, Claiming Our Place: Blacks in “White Spaces”. These community dialogues will be held on 6 consecutive Sundays beginning Sunday, February 7 through Sunday, March 14, 2021, 2:00 – 4:00 pm.
America has a troubled history of segregated public spaces. When Amy Cooper called the police on Christian Cooper (no relation) in Central Park last year, the incident underscored a familiar script that continues America’s legacy of enslavement. Some whites perceive African Americans as dangerous and disruptive intruders. All it took was a white woman to spout a racist dog whistle and the park, a public space, was made unsafe for a Black man.
As a way to rethink one’s assumptions about race and place, the 2021 Tea Talk series will explore how African Americans navigate various “white spaces”, spaces where Blacks and People of Color are marginalized, typically absent, or unexpected. Through shared stories and dialogue, this series will present ideas and offer opportunities for understanding and reconciliation. Presented by Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire and sponsored in part by a grant from New Hampshire Humanities, these winter Tea Talks are a series of participatory lectures related to New Hampshire’s Black history and African American culture.
The first Tea Talk, scheduled for Sunday, February 7, 2021, 2:00-4:00 pm, will discuss Racism, Land and the American Farming Landscape.
A panel of three expert speakers will investigate the factors contributing to the enormous farmland lost to Black farmers between 1920 and 2017 due to discriminatory practices such as the denial of USDA loans, and a slow handling of civil rights complaints. Presenters will also talk about the innovative ways that Black New England farmers are reclaiming the land and sowing the seeds of health and empowerment. The presenters include Dr. Reginald Jackson who serves as a consultant to artists and scholars who are conducting visual and cultural research related to African retentions in the Americas; Dr. Lydia Clemmons, President of the Clemmons Family Farm in Charlotte, VT, who has applied her management expertise to programs for nutrition and agriculture administered through various agencies such as USAID, UNICEF, and UNAIDS, and other government and international programs; and Jarrad Nwameme, Chief Executive Officer of Triple J Farms, LLC, a Black-owned farming business that uses sustainable practices and earth-friendly agricultural operations. Meghan Hovey, Professor in Anthropology at the University of New Hampshire and Director of the Great Bay Archaeological Survey (GBAS).
To register for this and future programs, all of which are free, please visit our website here.
Information concerning future programs will be forthcoming.
