For the first time in New Hampshire’s history, a senate bill aimed to help preserve African American burial sites and empower their descendants has gained momentum at the State House.
Throughout the last two decades, dozens of African American burial sites have been rediscovered across the state. Last month, those burial sites and the deceased that occupy them were given the justice that State Sen. David Watters, a Dover Democrat, believes they deserve as the bipartisan Senate Bill 258 passed unanimously in the Senate. Watters sponsored the bill and has done extensive research on the matter since he was a professor at the University of New Hampshire, before his days in politics.
“In recent decades, we have discovered a lot more African American burial sites in New Hampshire from the period of enslavement,” Watters said. “I’m a member of the board of the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire and we have done a lot to try to reveal more of this history. Over the last 100 to 150 years I think it kind of faded from historical record and people didn’t remember them anymore.”
The purpose of the bill is twofold, as it establishes various protections and policies when handling and preserving old African American gravesites throughout the state, while also requiring museums and medical sites to evaluate whether their exhibits and collections ought to be buried
“This is how to respectfully deal with and recognize the gravesites and how they ought to be respectfully restored and protected,” Watters said. “These are folks who were not recognized as human and certainly didn’t have rights in their life. And so, it seems only fitting when they’re dead, they should have a quarter of the respect and dignity they deserve.”
At UNH, Watters worked on the Native American Graves Protection and Restoration Act, which put very similar provisions on Native American burial sites. His work with local Abenaki indigenous people helped him create the blueprint for this current bill, as the moral and ethical values behind the legislation was very similar.
Warner, Canterbury and Portsmouth have some of the state’s most prominent African American burial sites, as African Burial Ground Memorial Park and the Black Heritage Trail were spawned from the discovery of bodies of former enslaved individuals in Portsmouth.
During Black History Month, Watters visited the graves of former enslaved African Americans Harriet Wilson, the first female Black novelist, as well as Ona Judge and Sampson Battis, all of whom spent significant time in the state. He insists that many of these sites need significant work, and that it will be a priority to make sure they are cared for.
Those graves are known. Many have yet to be discovered, which the bill aims to address.” New Hampshire recognizes the importance of preserving African American gravesites, markers, and associated archaeological materials, fencing, gates, faunal materials, grave offerings and decorations, and other materials,” the bill states. “Whenever such sites are located, the state supports efforts to document and preserve them and to support efforts to identify descendants and descendant communities.”
Similar legislation has recently been introduced in Congress. Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah and Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio introduced a bi-partisan proposal in February that would create the United States African American Burial Grounds Preservation Program, a grant program that would have $3 million allocated towards it over five years, within the National Park Service. According to the bill, the purpose of the program would be to identify and record abandoned African American burial grounds with hopes of preserving them.
While there is some national movement, other states have flirted with proposing similar bills. In mid-January, a Florida Senate bill was introduced that would incorporate a program within their Division of Historical Resources to research and recognize unmaintained cemeteries, with a priority in the placement of historical markers at African American cemeteries. It would also ensure that the state legislature would help fund local African American cemetery networks.
Virginia legislators have been proactive with their support of historical cemeteries, as a law was passed in 2018 allowing applications for funding to help restore them. Twenty-two burial grounds have since been granted funding in the state, and there has been further legislation enacted to expand the movement.
Here, Watters hopes SB 258 will bring peace to many of the descendants of enslaved African Americans, but he is also excited for the educational opportunities that can come from the bill.
“I do hope that it shows folks that New Hampshire, which one may not think of first when it comes to the history of slavery or African American history, that there is a rich history here,” he said. “This is a great opportunity for school children, and for the Black Heritage Trail to give tours. I just hope it’s a quiet work of discovery now that we know how to deal with the restoration and preservation.”
Watters and a number of other N.H. senators that signed onto the bill are hope ful the legislation will be eventually enacted, as it will be brought before the House for a public committee hearing in the near future.