Black History Out of the Shadows
Valerie Cunningham, The Power of One
Imagine if you can, an eight-year-old child scouring all the books in her hometown library with the hopes of seeing a reflection of herself on those pages.
This was the beginning of Valerie Cunningham’s life long quest to celebrate and make visible New Hampshire’s Black history.
It was during the turbulent ’60s that she documented the early history of Africans in New Hampshire, laying a foundation for the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail, which became a model for historic preservation nationwide.
African Memorial Burying Ground Reburial Ceremony
The Ripple Effect
After the unearthing of a more than 300-year-old burying ground for Africans and African-descendant people underneath a city street, the Portsmouth community worked together to transform the street into an evocative public gathering space to acknowledge its past, and to return the site to sacred ground.
Image of the original 1779 Petition for Freedom at the New Hampshire State Archives
The story begins here
Cuffee and Prince, sons of village royalty, were play hunting games as the hot West African sun settled on the horizon ablaze with early evening color. Engrossed in their fantasy, the pair were unaware of slave traders stalking them. In a flash these children became commodities, an investment insured against loss, whisked away onto the sloop Carolina that made sail for the Americas.
Shackled to each other, the boys struggled to remain brave. Stormy seas tossed the Carolina about as lightning flashed all around and thunder shook the ship to its core. Not all of the human cargo of men, women, and children were expected to survive the squalid conditions of life below deck.
The year was circa 1750, and the Carolina was headed for Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a rapidly growing English colony in the “new world.” Thus began a lifetime of enslavement for the two West African boys in the homes of William and Joseph Whipple. The two would mature into leadership roles, exemplified by Prince when, in 1779, he becomes an author and signer of an eloquent petition to end slavery in New Hampshire.
BHTNH Expanding Statewide
BHTNH Expansion Plan and Map (PDF)
Education, the most powerful tool for a better future
“Discovering New Hampshire’s hidden Black history has changed our whole perspective of the state, and our sense of how we belong.” — BHTNH interns Shetarrah and Jubilee Byfield
