New Board Leadership Looks to Substantive 2021 Programming Kicking off with Winter Tea Talks

“Sobering and eye-opening, the Black Heritage Trail forces us to question those we have traditionally considered heroes, and to elevate those who have been marginalized instead. It squarely centers Black life in early America, at a time when we as Americans need to be rewriting our history to do so.” – Jodi Picoult, New York Times best-selling author, Frommers’ Best Places 2021: Great Authors on Our America

Portsmouth, New Hampshire…Coming off a nod from New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult, the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire (BHTNH) announced today new board leadership that will take the helm as the nonprofit lays out its ambitious plans for 2021. Commissioned by Frommers Travel Guide in its “Best Places 2021: Great Authors on Our America,” Picoult advises readers to add the Trail to their travel plans: “Sobering and eye-opening, the Black Heritage Trail forces us to question those we have traditionally considered heroes, and to elevate those who have been marginalized instead. It squarely centers Black life in early America, at a time when we as Americans need to be rewriting our history to do so.”

“Jodi Picoult’s words are the perfect introduction for our work in 2021” said BHTNH Executive Director JerriAnne Boggis, “and our new board leadership is perfect for the task.” President Dennis Britton is Associate Professor of English at the University of New Hampshire and author of Becoming Christian: Race, Reformation, and Early Modern English Romance (2014.) Vice President Selina Choate is the Associate Director, McNair Scholars Program at the University of New Hampshire, has broad experience with nonprofits and congressional constituent services and holds a masters in public administration. Secretary Allyson Ryder is a justice advocate, a Carsey Fellow for NH Listens, serves as a program manager for the UNH Office of Community, Equity and Diversity, and holds a masters in public policy. Treasurer Stanford Cross brings over 20 years of banking experience to his role as Mortgage Loan Officer at Bangor Savings Bank, financing over 5,000 loans for homes across the U.S.

 

2021 PROGRAM SCHEDULE

Elinor Williams Hooker Tea Talks – A Virtual Series
Claiming Our Place: Blacks in “White Spaces”
Six Sundays February 7 – March 14, 2021  2-4pm
http://blackheritagetrailnh.org/tea-talks/

Sankofa Guided Walking Tours
Saturdays, May 29 – November 27, 2021

Juneteenth Celebration
Found Lineage: Celebrating African American Roots & Branches
Friday, June 18 – Saturday, June 19, 2021

Community Reading Frederick Douglass

Saturday, July 3, 2021

16th Annual Black New England Conference

Crossing River Jordan: A Spiritual Journey Towards Healing Racial Wounds

October 22 – 23, 2021