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

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 America. In spite of enslavement and hardship, these women fought for freedom, defied a sitting president, and educated generations of children. Hear their stories about love of family and community, about faith and struggle, as you walk past now-silent homes built by the…

Sankofa Tour Guide: Daniel Comly At the turn of the 19th century, Black abolitionists are changing public attitudes about slavery and challenging racial bias in the courts. In Portsmouth, never-enslaved and now-freed Black adults share households with not-yet-free elders and children who are owned by their buyers. It is a time of possibilities, hope and fear. True stories about these families will describe how a community of Black Americans were striving to create a life and place in this northern…

 A plaque to be unveiled September 18 in Hancock will be the newest addition to the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire’s statewide historical marker program. The Hancock marker will describe the Due family and Jack, a once-enslaved African who gained his freedom and lived in Hancock in the late 1700s and early 1800s. The Due family, identified in early censuses as free people of color, endured many issues with the Church of Christ in Hancock around the same time.…

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 sailors 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 a mariner who was also husband to Ona Marie Judge, the escaped…

Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Nur Shoop There were many variations of the Green Books that were used as a tool by African Americans who went places to enjoy themselves without concerns of experiencing racism On this tour you will see the places and hear the stories of the local people whose homes served as safe vacation spots for African American travelers who wanted to find safety places and avoid the humiliation often experiencing discrimination that could, without warning, prohibit…

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 book 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 died at…

Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Sonya Martino During the Spring of 1796, George Washington’s final months in office, Ona Judge, an enslaved woman held 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…

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.