Even though Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s alma mater, Boston University, was less than 50 miles away from the New Hampshire border, the civil rights icon only visited the Granite State a handful of times.
One of those times was on Oct. 26, 1952, where he visited a church in Portsmouth and delivered a sermon called “Going Forward by Going Backward.” The extraordinary appearance is forever marked at the former People’s Baptist Church at 45 Pearl St. by a plaque erected by the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire.
The organization, founded in 1995, has established 17 markers across the state so far to recognize and solidfy Black history. Program Director Dariya Steele said people from around New Hampshire contact them to share pieces of history they researched and work together to commemorate it.
“[It’s] always really fun, because we get to work with a ton of different people across the state,” she said. “We learn about different organizations, different town histories, and be able to educate ourselves and everyone else through these plaques.”
At the Black Heritage Trail, Steele said they operate off the term “sankofa”: a word originated from Ghana that means “to retrieve.” The word, along with the sentiment expressed in King’s sermon in Portsmouth, is the embodiment of their work.
“What we do is we go back and we get the correct information from the correct narrative, from the Black perspective, because we find that the people who recorded history is usually the winners or the enslavers, so it’s biased,” she said. “We want to make sure that we are getting the right information so we can properly honor people and events.”
Their work with markers has only been a statewide effort in the last few years. Before then, founder Valerie Cunningham established several bronze markers in Portsmouth and led a guided walking tour.
It wasn’t until more recently that markers were installed outside the port city, including some closer to Concord. In 2024, Dunbarton received a plaque to honor Scipio Page, a veteran of the French and Indian and Revolutionary wars. In Andover, another monument informs the public about Richard Potter, a magician, ventriloquist, and humorist who gained nationwide fame in the 1800s. Warner has a plaque dedicating soldiers from three different wars.
Along with its markers and walking tours, the Black Heritage Trail also hosts conferences, statewide readings and its annual discussion series, “Tea Talks.”
On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which was recognized as a state holiday in New Hampshire starting in 1999, Steele said it’s an excellent educational opportunity and celebration among people that appreciate King’s impact and legacy.
“Holidays like this and celebrations like this are so important to bring the community together in times like this, when we’re struggling to remember who we are as a country, and there is a lot of violence and just a lot of this disconnection overall of the American people,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity to educate yourself.”