Thirst for Freedom: From NH’s Slave Trade to its Civil Rights Movement

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Kittery’s Black Yankees

Wallingford Square Kittery, ME, United States

Sankofa Tour Guide: Nur Shoop This tour describes how African residents of a northern port town used their own traditions of resilience and mutual aid to establish one of Maine's earliest African American communities. You will hear stories of Black people living here during colonial slavery times through the modern era, a history often ignored and rarely identified with the heritage of northern New England. Meeting place: Wallingford Square downtown Kittery.

Ain’t She A Woman: Let Me Tell You Her Story

Black Heritage Trail of NH Main Office 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH, United States

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.

Not a Slave, yet not Free: Harriet E. Wilson and the Abolition Movement

Tour Guide: David Nelson 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. She struggled to make a living after that, marrying twice; her only son George…

Lives Bound Together: The Washingtons & Ona Marie Judge in NH

Black Heritage Trail of NH Main Office 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH, United States

Sankofa Scholar & 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…

Thirst for Freedom: From NH’s Slave Trade to its Civil Rights Movement

Black Heritage Trail of NH Main Office 222 Court Street, Portsmouth, NH, United States

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.

Before European Contact: Changing The Ways We Present Our History

Portsmouth Public Library, Livingston Room 175 Parrott Ave, Portsmouth, NH

Presenters: Anthony Bogues, Director of the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice, Brown University Anne Jennison, New Hampshire Commission on Native American Affairs Akeia de Barros Gomes, Sr. Curator of Maritime Social Histories, Mystic Seaport Museum Moderator: Meghan Howey, Interim Director, Center for the Humanities., University of New Hampshire     Many rich stories about the complex history of our region remain hidden, oftentimes erased in the conventional dominant stories. These narratives start with European contact on these shores and…

The Paradox of Education for Black & Brown Children

Portsmouth Public Library, Livingston Room 175 Parrott Ave, Portsmouth, NH

Presenters: Dr. Eddie S. Glaude Jr., (TBC) James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of African American Studies, Princeton University 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 Moderator: David Watters, NH State Senator and Professor of English Emeritus, University of New Hampshire     It has been a year since NH Legislators joined a wave of states across the country to pass laws prohibiting teaching critical perspectives…

Beyond Forty Acres: Land Ownership, and Black Wealth

Portsmouth Public Library, Livingston Room 175 Parrott Ave, Portsmouth, NH

Presenters:  Lydia Clemmons, Medical Anthropologist, President Clemmons Family Farm Inc Christle Rollins-Jackson, President Beacon Hill Scholars, Boston, MA Keith W. Stokes, (TBC) 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     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…

Shades of Black: Connected by Color, Culture & Community

Portsmouth Public Library, Livingston Room 175 Parrott Ave, Portsmouth, NH

Sunday, February 26, 2023 "Shades of Black": Connected by Color, Culture, & Community   Location: Levenson Room, Portsmouth Public Library   Panelists: 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 New Hampshire Center for Justice and Equity.   Moderator: Shari Robinson, Assistant Vice Provost for Student Life, University of New Hampshire.     Black folk…

Exploring the Heart of Cross-Racial Conversation

Portsmouth Public Library, Livingston Room 175 Parrott Ave, Portsmouth, NH

Panelists: Samuel Hyun, Public Speaker, and Director of Federal Relations for the City of Boston Arnold Mikolo, (TBC) Manchester, NH Andres Meija, 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     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…

Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire

The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire promotes awareness and appreciation of African American history and life in order to build more inclusive communities today.

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Mail: 222 Court Street, Portsmouth NH 03801
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