BHTNH Virtual Classroom
FILM & DISCUSSION PROGRAM
A program to engage educators, their students and family members in a discussion about New Hampshire’s Black History.
Slavery, Segregation, and the Myth of New Hampshire and the North
For information on how your class or group can access the film and have Film Producer Nancy Vawter and BHTNH Executive Director JerriAnne Boggis join the conversation
Email us at info@Blackheritagetrailnh.org or call 603-570-8469
ABOUT THE FILM
This documentary “Shadows Fall North,” focuses on the efforts of two dedicated historic preservationists and activists, Valerie Cunningham (coauthor of Black Portsmouth: Three Centuries of African American Heritage) of Portsmouth and JerriAnne Boggis of Milford, to recover the stories of people who have been rendered nearly invisible in the historical record.
From the story of the recovery of the Portsmouth African Burying Ground, honoring the novelist Harriet Wilson of Milford, to the historical 1779 petition for freedom written by twenty enslaved Africans this film brings to light many individuals whose lives and accomplishments were erased from New Hampshire’s collective memory.
The film asks us to New Hampshire’s history of slavery, segregation, and the neglect of African American history. It also seeks to answer the question: What happens when we move toward a fuller understanding of our history by including all voices?
FILM SEGMENTS FOR DISCUSSION
- The Trailer
- Uncovering New Hampshire's Black History (Valerie Cunningham work, Venus, and slavery in New Hampshire)
- The Story of Prince Whipple
- Rediscovering New Hampshire's Black History (JerriAnne Boggis and the Harriet Wilson Story)
- Noyes Academy: The Quest for Higher Education
- Racism and the Civil Rights Movement (Elizabeth Virgil, the Wentworth Hotel & Lost Boundaries)
- A Return to the Sacred - The Story of the recovery of the Portsmouth's African Burying Ground.
(Curriculum and Study-Guide Coming Soon)
