Thirst For Freedom

As the nation celebrates freedom on Independence Day, we celebrate the personal quest for freedom of Ona Judge.
Ona Judge fled enslavement in the Washington home in 1796 and came to coastal New Hampshire. On Sunday, July 4th at 1:00 p.m. her brave story will be dramatized on the grounds of the Gov. John Langdon House.
As one of Martha Washington’s enslaved body servants, Ona was her seamstress and was responsible for dressing, bathing, and primping the First Lady. When Ona, also called “Oney,” ran away and reached Portsmouth, John Langdon lent a hand in securing her safe refuge among free Blacks in Portsmouth and Greenland. click here for more information

Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail, Inc. 6th Annual Symposium

Heritage Keepers - Heritage Makers: Exploring Hidden History
Saturday - May 8, 2010

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“Heritage Keepers – Heritage Makers”

Installation of an historic site marker at New Hope Baptist Church was celebrated recently by Reverend Dr. Arthur Hilson and trustees of the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail: (left to right) JerriAnne Boggis, Elizabeth Doucette, Rev. Hilson, Valerie Cunningham, Kelvin Edwards, Joanne Dowdell, Fred Ross of the Seacoast NAACP, Jennifer Stiefel, David Watters, Wanda Mitchell and Freddye Ross. ~Photo by Liz Doucette

This is where the idea for a local black history trail began.
The Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail evolved from a multicultural action group sponsored by the Greater Piscataqua Community Foundation that was meeting at New Hope Baptist Church. An ad hoc committee was formed in 1993 to develop a black history resource book for local schools. Once that work had begun, it quickly became apparent that much more could be done to enhance public awareness of local black history.
By 1995, the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail had incorporated as an all-volunteer nonprofit organization offering guided tours, workshops and other public programs.
Although, the New Hope plaque is the last of 24 markers to be completed in this series, the Trail expects to add more sites as research and funding become available. All expenses for the manufacture and installation of plaques have been covered by charitable donations from the community. A committee of volunteers composed the text for each plaque.
The first two site markers were erected in 2000. One of those plaques, at Prescott Park, is in memory of the Africans and black Americans who arrived by ship in colonial New Hampshire, coming directly from slave trading centers in Africa and the Americas as early as 1645.
The other plaque was placed at the corner of State and Chestnut Streets. It acknowledges the site of the African Burying Ground that had been documented in public records since 1705. Widespread attention was drawn to this historic colonial-era burial site in October 2003 when a public works project accidentally exposed the remains of several burials that had lain forgotten under Chestnut Street. The city is planning to construct a memorial park at the site.
Plaques have been installed at various other sites around town, representing some of the people and events in African American history from the earliest European settlement at Strawbery Banke through the modern Civil Rights Movement. Public recognition of this often overlooked history helps to distinguish Portsmouth as a travel and tourism destination.
“Heritage keeping - Heritage making” is the Trail’s theme for its 15th anniversary year in 2010.
A calendar of events will be posted in January at www.pbhtrail.org <http://www.pbhtrail.org/> along with other information, or call 603-431-2768. Volunteers are always welcome.
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Press contact:
Valerie Cunningham, PBHT Ex. Director, 603-431-2768, pbhtrail@aol.com