2023 Elinor Williams Hooker Tea Talks

A virtual and in-person series | Sundays, February 5 – March 12, 2026 | 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM

In 2023, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, will celebrate four hundred years as an incorporated town by honoring the city’s diverse and dynamic social, political, intellectual, cultural, economic, and spiritual history, from the time of the first Native American settlements to the present.

The land and waterways of greater Portsmouth were part of the traditional homelands of the Pennacook, Abenaki, and Wabanaki Peoples.  Prior to the arrival of European settlers and the city's incorporation in 1623, members of these tribal nations have a long history of interacting with African traders and European fishermen.

In recognition of this four-hundred-year milestone, the Trail's annual Elinor Williams Tea Talk series will revisit significant themes from past conversations.  This series, will did deeper into complex issues that often divide in order to build communities in which we can all strive.  These are conversations we still need to have.

For the 2023 Elinor Williams Hooker Tea Talks Series, together we will create a safe space for meaningful interchanges, grounded in history and lived experience between different segments of the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) community. We will also investigate the current issues that continue to create tension in the community. 

The Winter Tea Talks are a series of participatory panel presentations and discussions related to New Hampshire’s Black history and African American culture.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2023 (2:00 PM)

Tea Talk #2 | The Paradox of Education for Black & Brown Children

It has been a year since NH Legislators joined a wave of states across the country to pass laws prohibiting teaching critical perspectives on histories, laws, social practices, and literature that have excluded opposing voices and histories of African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and People of Color.

For this panel, presenters will discuss the effect these “divisive concepts” laws have had on teaching excluded perspectives in their classroom with a particular focus on NH. The panel will also explore the paradox of an educational system based on the notion of socializing young people into the existing structure of society, while also claiming to have, as its core mission, the goal of teaching students to be critical thinkers.

Presenters:
Sarah Robinson, Education Justice Campaign Director, Granite State Progress, NH
Erin Bakkom, President of the Association of Portsmouth Teachers, 8th-grade social studies teacher, Portsmouth Middle School
Judy DeRosier, Doctoral Student, Teaching of Social Studies, Teachers College, Columbia University

Moderator:
David Watters, NH State Senator and Professor of English Emeritus, University of New Hampshire

Watch Video:

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 (2:00 PM)

Tea Talk #3 | "Beyond Forty Acres": Land Ownership, and Black Wealth

In the 1930s and 1940s, as African Americans in urban centers like New York, Washington, D.C., and Boston began to establish themselves as part of the middle and upper-middle class, they flocked to the East Coast shoreline in summer to take in the beach and the bonfires.

For this conversation, panelists will share the history and personal stories of land ownership, discriminatory practices that have prevented wealth accumulation, and the enormous loss of farmland that Black families have experienced. Panelists will share stories of upwardly mobile Black communities and how they have recast the borders of white spaces. They will also discuss urban renewal and innovative ways Black New England farmers are reclaiming the land and sowing the seeds of health and empowerment.

Presenters:
Christle Rawllins-Jackson, President Beacon Hill Scholars, Boston, MA
Keith W. Stokes, Co-author “A Matter of Truth: The Struggle for African Heritage and Indigenous People Equal Rights in Providence, Rhode Island.”

Moderator:
Karen A. Spiller, Professor in Sustainability Food Systems, UNH, Durham, NH

Watch Video:

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2023 (2:00 PM)

Tea Talk #4 | "Shades of Black": Connected by Color, Culture, & Community

Black folk in predominantly white environments have often found it "exhausting" to continually describe for others the negative impact of racism on them. They also have felt it a burden to serve in the position of "teacher" representing the wider Black community, instead of being viewed as individuals with their own unique stories and needs.

For this panel, Black Americans from diverse backgrounds will share their stories on what it means to live in and love their own skin.

Presenters:
Shantel Palacio, Ph.D. candidate, University of New Hampshire, former Administrative Education Officer, New York City Department of Education
Dottie Morris, Associate Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion, Keene State College
Anthony Poore, President and CEO of New Hampshire Center for Justice and Equity.

Moderator:
Shari Robinson, Assistant Vice Provost for Student Life, University of New Hampshire

Watch Video:

SUNDAY, MARCH 5, 2023 (2:00 PM)

Tea Talk #5 | Exploring the Heart of Cross-Racial Conversation

Since the end of WWII, the perceived success of Asian Americans – who have been wrongly portrayed as a monolithic group – has led white apologists to cast this group as the “model minority.” The lack of cross-racial conversations keeps people isolated in their own racial groups at the expense of personal, professional, and societal growth.

This panel will explore what happens when racialized groups begin to dialogue. Panelists will discuss the myth of the model minority, what happens when language is used as a social construct to divide, and what happens when the American racial hierarchy forces one to choose a particular identity or culture over another. How can we speak openly and honestly in cross-racial conversations?

Presenters:

Samuel Hyun, Public Speaker, and Director of Federal Relations for the City of Boston
Terry Robinson Sr., Ministry Leader, and Retired Sergeant First Class, United States Army
Andres Mejia, Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice, Exeter Region Cooperative School District (SAU 16)

Moderator: 
Tina Kim Philibotte, Ph.D. candidate and Chief Equity Officer, Manchester School District

Watch Video:

SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2023 (2:00 PM)

Tea Talk #6 | "Youth to Power": Black Female Activists

Black Women have been leaders in this country for centuries as abolitionists, voting rights advocates, college founders, civil rights defenders, labor leaders, entrepreneurs, and more. Often, their work to overcome race and gender stereotypes has been seen as unusual or magical, serving to minimize their labor and talent.

This closing discussion will feature a group of young BIPOC women exploring where we are culturally as a state and where we want to be heading. Panelists will share how their activism is shaping their worldview and hopes for the future.

Presenters:
Ronelle Tshiela, Franklin Pierce School of Law, UNH. Founding member Manchester Black Lives Matter
Rekha Mahadevan, Berwick Academy, Class of 2023. Member of Seacoast NAACP youth group
Saniyah Bolton, Exeter High School, Class of 2024. Seacoast Black Lives Matter organizer, and climate change equity activist.

Moderator :
Funmi Oyekunle, Coordinator, CONNECT Program, University of New Hampshire

Watch Video:

2023 Tea Talks Resources