A letter from the Executive Director:
Greetings, We are a small all-volunteer nonprofit organization dedicated to providing public programs that inform and educate. Through better understanding, audiences of diverse backgrounds are encouraged to find common ground. Together, we have had remarkable successes.

Beverly Morgan Welch was the guest speaker at our annual spring symposium this year. As the dynamic Executive Director of the Museum of African American History in Boston, she has led efforts to restore the country’s two oldest African meetinghouses, in Boston and Nantucket. She brought wisdom and inspiration to our gathering, along with practical suggestions on how to continue our work here in Portsmouth.

We could not have anticipated the response to our July 4th celebration in the Rose Garden of the Governor John Langdon House Museum. More than 200 people attended a dramatization of the enslaved Ona Judge’s escape from George and Martha Washington’s presidential home in Philadelphia. This was followed by a provocative discussion with the audience about what ‘freedom’ means.

In September, we thought our 15th anniversary year celebrations had peaked with a heart-warming concert by Trinidadian, Phillip Mentor, at Temple Israel. And then we learned that the owner of ‘Rock Rest’ - the African-American guest house in Kittery Point, Maine, had finally been sold to a buyer who would restore and preserve this historic place.

Although that transaction did not enrich our coffers, the reward was in knowing that this house had been saved from the bulldozer. Topping that off was the opportunity to donate many artifacts from Rock Rest to the Smithsonian’s new African American museum on the mall in Washington for an exhibit on Black travel during the years of racial segregation.

Our programs are made possible by dedicated volunteers and by many private donations. This year, we also received supporting grants from the NH Humanities Council and TDBank, for which we are very grateful. As a result, we were again able to hold quality events without charging admission.

Even casual passersby, stopping out of curiosity, leave with a new awareness of our local Black history. This is our mission.

This, and so much more, is what we do. Your donation will help us to continue.

With thanks and best wishes for the coming year, Valerie Cunningham