20th Annual Black New England Conference In Manchester Set For Oct. 23 to Oct. 24

By ZACH LAIRD, InDepth NH

MANCHESTER, NH — The Black Heritage Trail New Hampshire will host the 20th Annual Black New England Conference on Oct. 23-24, with the goal of showcasing Black voices fighting back against being silenced.

The event will feature speeches by Joy Reid, journalist and commentator, and author George “Conscious” Lee, as well as Black History bus tours around New Hampshire. The conference will be held at Southern New Hampshire University’s Millyard Building in Manchester. The theme of this year’s conference is “Shaping Tomorrow: Black Autonomy in an Age of Erasure.”

“Erasure, in this context, means the silencing of diverse voices and diverse stories, so it’s a great connection to the Ona Judge mural that we put up in Portsmouth earlier this year; she was enslaved by George Washington, and then escaped from bondage when he was in Philadelphia. There was a plaque down in Philadelphia, dedicated to her and naming her as one of the enslaved people alongside several others,” said Jake Webb, marketing specialist for Black Heritage Trail New Hampshire.

Webb said both Reid’s and Lee’s talks will touch on their own experiences with establishing their voices as creatives and commentators on day-to-day life.

Webb continued that it’s an important story to tell the truth of history, and the organization plans to offer Black History bus tours around key locations in New Hampshire. Attendees will be able to choose from the following options:

• MANCHESTER — Building Black Enterprise

Discover generations of Black entrepreneurs who turned business ownership into a pathway toward independence, opportunity, and community power. Explore the people and places that reveal a lesser-known history of Black enterprise in New Hampshire’s largest city.

• MILFORD — Harriet E. Wilson and the Abolition Movement

Explore the life and landscape that shaped Harriet E. Wilson, author of the groundbreaking 1859 novel Our Nig. Visit sites connected to Wilson’s remarkable story and discover Milford’s connections to abolition, race, and the struggle for freedom in 19th-century New Hampshire.

• PORTSMOUTH — Never Caught: The Washingtons & Ona Marie Judge

Trace Ona Marie Judge’s courageous journey from enslavement in George and Martha Washington’s household to freedom in New Hampshire. Follow the places and stories connected to her escape and discover the Portsmouth community that helped make it possible for her to remain free despite the Washingtons’ repeated efforts to recapture her.

“The conference is going to be addressing a lot of those instances (of being silenced) and the things that we’re dealing with as a society… The Black New England Conference is always a great place to network and get together with other people who envision a better future; the conference’s title is ‘Shaping Tomorrow,’ so we’re hoping that people come together away from these dialogues and conversations with a better understanding of our communities (and) that we can foster that sense of togetherness and belonging across New England,” Webb said.

The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire is a nonprofit organization dedicated to “raising awareness of the history, contributions, and experiences of African Americans in New Hampshire,” per its website.

The program will also include interactive panels and workshops over its two-day run. Registration information, full scheduling, and ticket options are available on the official event page at https://blackheritagetrailnh.org/events/black-new-england-conference.

This story was originally published by InDepth NH.