Reading the Bones: Celebrating the African Diaspora
June 10, 15, 16, 17, 18 & 19, 2023
The celebration includes a tour, a panel discussion, a Reggae festival, a gospel choir concert, African drumming, and more…
Reading the bones is both an ancient and modern form of divination found in all civilizations. Divination is among the earliest human spiritual practices concerned with choosing actions that were in accord with the “will of heaven” to allay uncertainty, heal illness, or navigate issues of tribal importance.
Interestingly, the casting and reading of the bones take on a different connotation when we consider the rediscovery of the 18th-century African burying ground in Portsmouth, NH. This accidental unearthing of African remains on a city street that had been forgotten, paved over, and built upon forced the city and the state at large to acknowledge their history of enslaving humans and the presence of Africans in the region before enslavement.
BHTNH offers this weeklong Juneteenth celebration to honor these early African settlers and their descendants for their extraordinary contributions to the growth of this region. We honor the African traders who interacted with the Indigenous tribal nations long before European settlers landed on these shores. We honor the Africans who survived the Middle Passage and the successive generations of the African diaspora who continue to contribute to the development, wealth, and well-being of New England.
What is Juneteenth?
Juneteenth is the oldest known nationally celebrated event commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation declared that as of January 1, 1863, all slaves of the states in rebellion against the Union “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” However, it was not until June 19th, 1865, two years later, when the U.S. Army took possession of Galveston Island in Texas and began a campaign against the defenders of slavery, that the enslaved people in Galveston could begin their journey towards freedom.
Event Sponsored by:
In Partnership with:
TD Bank, Piscataqua Savings Bank, 3S Artspace, Atlantic Media, Canterbury Shaker Village, Currier Museum of Art, NAACP Seacoast, New Hope Baptist Church, Nikkita Productions, Players' Ring, PMAC, Rachel One Love, Racial Unity Team, Seacoast African American Cultural Center, South Church Unitarian Universalist Church, Strawbery Banke Museum, Theatre for the People, The Music Hall & Vida Cantina.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Saturday, June 10 | Bus Tour, Canterbury Shaker Village | $35 - $45
AFRICAN ROOTS: HERBAL MEDICINE, INOCULATION & THE SHAKER CONNECTION
By the beginning of the nineteenth century, Europeans and Africans living in America joined with Native Americans, creating plant-based therapies to care for the body. The Shakers, at Canterbury and other villages, not only adopted some of these therapies but also refined and sold their own remedies.
Join Curator and Historian Dr. Shirley Wajda for a special talk and tour on the history of medicine at Canterbury Shaker Village. Participants will explore several buildings including the Infirmary and the Syrup Shop. Additionally, Dr. Wajda will place the Shakers’ use and development of medicine in the broader context of early American life. Along the way, participants will learn more about Sister Edith Green an African American Shaker who lived, worked, and worshipped at Canterbury Shaker Village.
Tour Guide: Dr. Shirley Wajda
Tour Bus will pick up participants at Connect Community Church in Portsmouth NH, located off I-95, exit 7
Address: 200 Chase Dr, Portsmouth, NH 03801
Bus Pick Up: 9:15 AM
Bus Arrives: 10:30 AM
Tour Starts: 11:00 AM
The event is brought to you in partnership with Canterbury Shaker Village and sponsored by Bangor Bank.
Wednesday, June 14 | Panel Discussion | 6:00 PM | Currier Museum | Manchester, NH
STILL, UPROOTED? HEARTACHE AND HOPE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
In 2009, the Center for the Humanities at the University of New Hampshire produced a 30-minute documentary, Uprooted: Heartache and Hope in New Hampshire, that featured the lives of five refugees who were re-settled in New Hampshire. They told their personal stories of war, persecution, refugee camps, and starting again in New Hampshire. Umija and Rasim Gusinac, Udai Baskota, Zahara Mahitula, and Munaf Mahmood come from different countries and backgrounds, but they are part of New Hampshire's ongoing demographic narrative.
This program will revisit the narrative from the film as we learn where these individuals’ journeys have taken them, particularly their continued search to establish a home and develop a sense of belonging in our state.
The first 30 to register for the in-person program will recieve a copy of Uprooted: Heartache and Hope in New Hampshire.
Presenters:
Rashida Eltag Mohamed, Domestic & Sexual Violence Advocate, Manchester Police Department
Anzura Gakwaya, Community Building Specialist, NeighborWorks Southern New Hampshire
Fisto Ndayishimiye, Lead Organizer, Change for Concord
Moderator:
Grace Kindeke, Program Coordinator, American Friends Service Committee NH
Brought to you in partnership with the Currier Museum of Art, this event is free and open to the public.
Friday, June 16 | 5:00 PM | Art Exhibit | 3S Artspace | Portsmouth
IF YOU KNEW, LET IT BE US
McKinley Wallace III, a mixed-media painter and art educator, paints, draws, and collages to tell stories of power manifested in resilient peoples.
Exploring race, history, and intersectionality, Wallace’s artistic ideas are often expressed in a graphic style that incorporates realism, minimalism, and hard-edge painting. Strengthened by my role as a Black educator, I capture moments of atmospheric and direct tension and rebellion to rattle America's exclusionary ideals and legacies – choices enacted by the impact of deferring Black joy for centuries.
Join us for this opening reception where McKinley Wallace and the other artist sharing the Gallery space at the same time will be engaging in a moderated artist conversation together to talk about their work and process, and open questions up to Gallery attendees as well as those watching via live stream on Twitch.
This event is brought to you by 3S Artspace. It is free and open to the public.
Saturday, June 17 | 12:00 PM | Reggae Festival | Strawbery Banke, Portsmouth
CHANTING DOWN BABYLON: REDEMPTION SONGS OF THE DIASPORA
It is not an overstatement to say that world culture has been influenced by Jamaican reggae music and culture. With its roots grounded in an African sensibility of expressing philosophical words through music, its slow rhythmic beat, its militant, rebellious, and spiritual lyrics, and its positive message about unity, reggae continues to be a source for highlighting issues of social justice.
This festival celebrates the music of the African Diaspora and honors the legacy of roots reggae. Join us for performances by reggae legends, Marcia Griffiths, Brigadier Jerry, Nadine Southerland, Onix Brown, Lady G, and Glen Washington; Caribbean foods, craft vendors, and a chance to vibe to great music.
“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” Robert Nesta Marley.
Click Here For More Information
Tickets are available at the door the day of the event.
Sunday, June 18 | 4:00 PM | Dance Performance | Music Hall | Portsmouth | $30 - $70
CAMILLE A. BROWN & DANCERS: RECLAIMING BLACK NARRATIVES
In African societies, dance serves many complex social purposes. Often there is no clear distinction between ritual celebration, social recreation, and history-keeping. African Diasporic dances, Samba and tap dance, line dance, hip hop, Capoeira, and twerking are all dance styles that have their origins on the continent of Africa.
Camille A. Brown and Dancers is a group that is reclaiming Black narratives for Black and brown people and elevating African Diasporic culture to its rightful place in American society. Spreading the joy of dance, they create and present performances that celebrate community, investigate historical and contemporary culture and recognize our shared humanity.
In addition to the dance performance, Camille A. Brown Dance Company will be offering a workshop with the Black Heritage Trail of NH and The Music Hall. For information and tickets for the BHTNH workshop, click here.
The event is brought to you by the Music Hall
Monday, June 19 | 11:00 AM | African Drumming | African Burying Ground | FREE
THE HEALING RHYTHM OF THE DRUMS
Traditionally the drum was the heartbeat and soul of African communities, thus holding deep historic and symbolic significance. The drums herald political and social events and ceremonies of birth, death, and marriage. They spark courtships, home-coming and going, and accompany religious rites and rituals that call up ancestral spirits while creating an atmosphere that promotes healing and social resilience.
This commemorative event, live streaming from the Portsmouth African Burying Ground, pays homage to the ancestors buried there. The healing beat of the drums provided by Akwaaba Ensemble, an African drumming and dance group, and a ceremony by Rev. Robert Thompson will honor the ancestors who survived upon these shores.
The Event is Free and Open to the Public.
Monday, June 19 | 2:00 PM | Gospel Choir Performance | South Church | $35 pp
FROM AFRICA TO AMERICA: WE ARE THE DRUMS
Performance plays a key role in narrating the African story in America. The Negro spirituals sung by enslaved Africans laid the foundation for today’s gospel, blues, jazz, and rap music. All of these musical forms provide artists the chance to express the Black experience.
Returning to Portsmouth, The Howard Gospel Choir, a group of students, alumni, and community members from Howard University, will lift our spirits as we celebrate, heal, and empower our communities. As the first college choir of its kind in the world, the Howard Gospel Choir is a trailblazer for gospel music ministries on collegiate campuses across the globe.
Choir Members Include:
Choir Director: Ray Bramble
Cost is $35 per person. Space is Limited.
The event is brought to you in partnership with South Church Unitarian Universalist Church, Portsmouth NH.
Tickets are available to purchase at South Church, beginning half an hour prior to the event.
Presenters Biographies
Dr. Shirley Wajda
Shirley Wajda, Ph.D., is Curator of Collections at Canterbury Shaker Village. She researches American material culture and everyday life—that is, she is a historian of stuff. Shirley has spent much of my adult life thinking and writing about the many lives of stuff—the objects humans create, grow, buy, sell, and give, use and alter, save and destroy. Her interdisciplinary research explores the ways humans understand their lives, their families, and their communities through material and visual culture. She earned her degrees at the University of Pennsylvania and Boston University.
Grace Kindeke
Grace Kindeke is an artist, activist and the Program Coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee, NH program. She is a fierce advocate for justice, healing and liberation, grounding her work in a Black feminist, African-futurist and anti-oppression practice. She is the recipient the 2017 MIT Infinite Mile Award for Community Building, the 2022 NAACP Youth Excellence in Service award, and the 2023 NH Martin Luther King award. She is an avid reader, a B.A. student of Africana Studies and Sociology and a costume designer and dancer in Benkadi: West African Drum & Dance Company. She was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and raised in New Hampshire where she currently lives with her family.
Rashida Eltag Mohamed
Rashida Eltag Mohamed is the Domestic and Sexual Violence Victim Advocate at the Manchester Police Department. Mohamed, who is originally from Sudan, first came with her husband and two daughters to North Carolina and then moved to New Hampshire in 2001. She worked for the International Institute of New Hampshire for two years. While there, she educated newcomers about the differences in attitudes and laws in the United States, especially involving rights and protections for women and children. Mohamed also volunteered for the YWCA and in 2004, began working for the organization as a shelter manager. In 2010, Mohamed joined the Manchester Police Department as a civilian member. She is the first woman officer on the team and her experience and expertise have been instrumental in supporting refugee and immigrant families, preventative counseling, outreach in noncriminal report situations, and children now receiving important counseling and other services. Mohamed chaired the board of Ujima Collective and formerly served on the board of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. She served on the Board of the New Hampshire Women’s Foundation until 2016.
Anzura Gakwaya
Anzura Gakwaya works as the Community Building Specialist at NeighborWorks Southern New Hampshire while pursuing her degree in Forensic Psychology as a graduate student at SNHU. Anzura immigrated to the United States as a refugee and has always had a desire to positively impact individuals in similar circumstances. She finds fulfillment in work that involves giving back and building up the community, particularly for marginalized populations that are often systematically disadvantaged. Anzura envisions underprivileged community members reaching financial stability and improving their quality of life. Her strengths lie in her passion and determination, and she plans to use these attributes to motivate and uplift her community and colleagues. Anzura believes that "We rise by lifting others," and that it truly takes a village to raise the future..
Fisto Ndayishimiye
Fisto Ndayishimiye, who came to the United States in December 2016, was born and raised in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where education is not common. Fisto's main focus has been on educating young people about leadership, communication, and responsibility. Fisto hosts youth leadership events that unite young people over shared goals of understanding differences, asking questions, solving issues around the community, helping other students, and working together to promote Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice. By utilizing Fisto's skills to help the community, Fisto works to bring awareness to DEIJ through interviews and discussions with community leaders. This has helped local leaders to understand the issue, and they are continuing to work together to understand and solve the issue. Fisto understands that underserved communities deserve fair arguments from their leaders, and it is Fisto's job to make sure this happens.
Theo Martey & The Akwaaba Ensemble
Theo Martey & The Akwaaba Ensemble’s energetic and engaging performances are a reflection of their name, which means ‘welcome’ in the Twi language of the Ashanti tribe of Ghana. At each performance, the Ensemble brings Highlife music, West African drumming, and dance to vivid life. Theo was born and raised in Accra, Ghana, West Africa. He is a songwriter, recording artist, producer, performer, teaching artist, and recipient of the 2019 Governor’s Arts Award for Arts Education. He was featured on New Hampshire Magazine “Who’s It for 2019?” list. Other members of the Akwaaba Ensemble include Namory Keita– Master Djembe Fola – kpanlogo drums and backing vocals from Guinea West Africa. Josh Williams – Djun Djun Drummer, hand percussion and backing vocal. Michael Osendah – Dancer, backing vocal and lite percussion from Ghana, West Africa. Monique Williams – Dancer, singer, and lite percussion.
Howard Gospel Choir
The Howard University Gospel Choir Founded in the fall of 1968 by Melanie Russell (Lee) and Rosalind Thompkins (Lynch), the Howard Gospel Choir (HGC) of Howard University is the first collegiate choir of its kind in the world. As a result, HGC has pioneered an international legacy in gospel music ministry. With an active roster of seventy-plus persons that consists of students and alumni from Howard University, as well as others from the surrounding community, the choir is one of the largest religious life organizations on campus, operating under the historic Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel. The Dean of the Chapel, the Reverend Dr. Bernard Richardson serves as the choir’s advisor.
