Kittery’s Black Yankees

Location: Levenson Room, Portsmouth Public Library Presenters: Deo Mwano, Deo Mwano Consultancy Selina Choate, Vice-President of BHTNH Board, Associate Director for McNair Scholars Program, University of New Hampshire Dottie Morris  Associate Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion, Keene State College. Moderator: Nadine Petty, Chief Diversity Officer, UNH Black folk in predominantly white environments have often found it “exhausting” to continually describe for others the negative impact of racism on them. They have also felt it a burden to serve in the position of “teacher”…

Join this breakfast panel with keynote speaker Dr Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. Together we’ll examine the “paradox of education”, what that paradox means to Black and Brown children, and how educators can become agents for societal change. Panel includes local leaders and scholars on race, equity, and education. Breakfast food will be provided.  Read more here Register Here Register by March 28, 2022.   April 1 | 8:00am | Puritan Conference Center, Manchester

Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Angela Matthews In 2017 BHTNH partnered with St. John’s Episcopal Church to offer a Good Friday Walk of 14 sites on the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail that paired a story of an African American with each of the Stations of the Cross.  This year, the Walk will be In-Person on Wednesday, April 13. The Walk will begin at 10:30am at 222 Court Street, visit 14 sites, and end at noon at the African Burial Ground…

  In 2017 BHTNH partnered with St. John’s Episcopal Church to offer a Good Friday Walk of 14 sites on the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail that paired a story of an African American with each of the Stations of the Cross.  For those who cannot attend in person, the Walk will be offered virtually on Friday, April 15 at 2:00 p.m.  To attend this free program register below.  Register for Virtual Walk Here The tour will be offered for free,…

Lives Bound Together: The Washingtons & Ona Marie Judge in NH Special Ona Judge Day Tour 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…

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.

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 seamen 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 Jack Staines, husband to Ona Judge Staines, the President, and Martha Washington’s…

Tour Guides: Rekha Mahadevan or Laramie Wilson Local newspapers carried merchants’ ads for ships returning to the port of Portsmouth laden with cargo from trade ports on the West Coast of Africa, the West Indies, and the middle Atlantic coastal cities of Colonial America. Visit local wharves and auction sites related to the Atlantic Slave Trade, where a captive could be exchanged for “cash or good lumber” to serve in the master’s house or work on the docks or aboard…

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 newly freed Black adults share households with still enslaved children and elders. It is a time of possibilities, hope, and tension. True stories about these families will describe how a community of African refugees were claiming their place as Americans.

Presented in collaboration with the Prescott Park Arts Festival, BHTNH will feature the star-studded Disney Pixar film, Soul, to kick off the 2022 Juneteenth celebration. As a special offering for the community, this movie will be shown on Friday evening instead of the typical Monday night of the movie series.   Everybody has a soul. Joe Gardner is about to find his. Joe is a middle-school band teacher whose life hasn’t quite gone the way he expected. His true passion is jazz and he’s good.…