DURHAM, NH – Thomas L. Hooker of Nashua, a long-time federal and state human services administrator, will be honored at the Black New England Conference Friday, Oct. 20 at the University of New Hampshire with the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire Citizen of the Year Award. Jim Donchess, the mayor of Nashua will present the award.
Each year the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire choses a recipient of its Citizen of the Year Award, presented at its annual black history conference awards dinner.
Thomas Hooker was director of the NH Division of Welfare from 1966 to 1975, where he developed a network of services for day care, home care and residential care programs, implemented the Medicaid and food stamp programs, and was credited with a number of other innovations.
His professional experience included positions with the Connecticut Department of Welfare, the Veterans Administration, and the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
In 1975, Hooker continued on his career path as Deputy Secretary for Family Assistance in Pennsylvania, being responsible for the administration and enforcement of child support and family assistance programs under the Department of Public Welfare.
He returned to federal service in New Hampshire in 1979, in several capacities ranging from consultant in Title XX, to supervisor of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), and finally, during the 1990s, as director of several Atlantic regional and territorial offices with oversight of Older Americans Act (OAA) programs.
A native of Georgia, Hooker had worked his way through college, stacking peanuts and watermelons to sell at the farmers’ market, doing kitchen work at a hotel, then taking a night shift at the post office. He graduated from Ohio State University and earned a master’s degree at the University of Pittsburg specializing in psychiatric social work.
Thomas continues to live in the home he had shared with Elinor, his wife of fifty years; their son, Brian, lives on the west coast. The Elinor Williams Hooker Tea Talks on local history and racial justice are held weekly during the winter, named in memory of this early supporter of the Black Heritage Trail’s ongoing educational mission.
This year’s Black New England Conference, The Science & Engineering or Race: Living Through the Archives, focuses on the science and engineering of race. Together, presenters and attendees will uncover past and present uses of scientific fictions that have codified racial hierarchies, and reified widespread beliefs that have enduring power in shaping all areas of American life.
The Black New England Conference, now in its 11th year, is a regularly occurring 2-day gathering to share insights and scholarly work on Black experiences, past and present, in New England.
For more information or to register for conference visit: https://cola.unh.edu/bnec-2017
The 2017 Black New England Conference is Sponsored by:
Endowment for Health; Eastern Bank; TD Bank; Delta Dental; Exeter Hospital; Center for New England Culture; Office of the Provost; Office of Community, Equity and Diversity; Carsey School of Public Policy; College of Engineering and Physical Sciences; Center for the Humanities; Department of English; Engagement and Academic Outreach; UNH Graduates School; Dean’s Office College of Liberal Arts; The President’s Commissions; Office of Multicultural Student Affairs; Women’s Studies
