JerriAnne Boggis, executive director of BHTNH, Valerie Cunningham, founder of the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail and board president Rev. Robert Thompson celebrate with Attorney Jack McGee at the closing on 222 Court Street July 31, 2018
The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire purchased a property this summer that will become its new home in Portsmouth, NH.
Part of the group’s mission is to share New Hampshire’s African-American history.
Executive Director JerriAnne Boggis says the new headquarters will be an anchor for statewide educational tours.
“We’re creating a new space where we can tell an alternative story, a more inclusive state history story,” Boggis said. “A place to tell stories that have long been erased from New Hampshire’s history.”
The property at 222 Court St. was once home to enslaved people, Boggis said, adding that the seaport of Portsmouth is where the story of slavery begins in New Hampshire.
The building will eventually house a research and visitors center. The BHTNH hopes to move in by the end of the year.
