What is a Sankofa Scholar and Why Should You Become One?

A Sankofa Scholar is someone who commits to learning, preserving, and sharing history with intention, especially stories that have been overlooked, simplified, or left out entirely. At the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire, our Sankofa Scholars help us tell a more complete story of New Hampshire by engaging with the past in a way that strengthens the present and shapes a more informed future. 

The word Sankofa comes from the Akan people of West Africa and means “go back and get it.” It can be depicted as either a heart shape with symmetrical spirals or a stylized bird.

The heart Sankofa uses the intricate, symmetrical spirals in its design to represent the need to continuously return to the past to draw lessons to inform the present and future. The bird’s posture - the neck arched to reach behind itself while its body faces forward - illustrates the balance between looking back and moving forward.
The bird Sankofa is a bird looking backward while holding an egg or seed in its beak, symbolizing reaching back to reclaim something valuable - knowledge, heritage, or lessons.

What Does a Sankofa Scholar Actually Do? 

A Sankofa Scholar is more than a history fan (though history fans are welcome!) It’s a role built on curiosity, care, and responsibility. It means sharing history with informed attention on what is missing from the story that is typically told and what changes need to be restored to it. 

Sankofa Scholars may: 

• Learn the deeper story behind New Hampshire’s Black history, history that goes beyond what the textbooks say and delves into the everyday lives, contributions, resistance, community-building, and leadership that shaped the Granite State. 
• Recover stories that have been ignored or excluded, helping to expand the public’s understanding. 
• Share history in a way that is accurate, respectful, engaging, and inclusive. 
• Connect what happened in the past to what is happening now, because history isn’t just a story; it is a lesson and it is context. 

Why Should You Become a Sankofa Scholar?

Because communities run on stories. The narratives we repeat about where we live, who “belongs”, who built what, and whose lives mattered shape everything from education to policy to neighborhood identity.  When Black history is minimized or erased, our communities change. It makes inequality easier to dismiss, progress easier to mythologize, and belonging easier to gatekeep. Becoming a Sankofa Scholar is a way to push back at that, not with slogans, but with knowledge. 

By becoming a Sankofa Scholar, you gain a fuller understanding of New Hampshire. Not a rewritten history, but a completed one. You’ll see familiar places differently when you know who lived there, worked there, and built a community there.  

You will gain practical skills for truth-telling. Part of Sankofa Scholarship is learning how to interpret history responsibly. You’ll learn how to use sources, handle complexity, avoid oversimplifications, and communicate with care.

How is a Sankofa Scholar different from a Sankofa Tour Guide?

A Sankofa Tour Guide is a specially trained interpreter who leads our historic walking tours with a focus on telling history through the lens of the Black experience. Tour guides receive additional training in New Hampshire’s Black history, with an emphasis on recovering and sharing stories that have often been overlooked or excluded, providing a richer and more accurate understanding of our shared history. 

A Sankofa Scholar is the broader identity and pathway. This is someone who is learning, contributing, and helping carry this work forward. Some Sankofa Scholars become tour guides. Others support the mission in different ways, whether by research, outreach, education, volunteering, or event support. 

Think of it like this: A Sankofa Scholar is someone who commits to learning and supporting the work of recovering and sharing history. A Sankofa Tour Guide is a trained public interpreter who delivers that history on tours. 

Can I Be a Sankofa Scholar? 

You don’t have to be a historian to be a Sankofa Scholar. You don’t need to have the “right” background or to know everything. You simply need curiosity and a willingness to learn and share responsibly. If you’ve ever thought, “Why didn’t I learn that in school?” Or “How can I help to make sure people know about this?”, you’re already heading in the right direction. 

Sankofa teaches that we move forward best when we carry forward what the past can teach us. Sankofa Scholars are the bridge between what was, what is, and what could be. You’re not just learning history. You’re helping to make sure the community knows its own story and knows it more truthfully. 

Are YOU ready to go back and get it? Learn more about becoming a Sankofa Scholar, sign up to volunteer, or explore what it takes to train as a Sankofa Tour guide by visiting our website: https://blackheritagetrailnh.org/  you have a few hours to lend, or you’re ready to dive deep into sharing New Hampshire’s Black history with the public, there’s a place for you in this work, and we’d love to help you find it.