2022 Seacoast Walk

Please join us for the 2022 Annual Seacoast Walk on July 10, 2022 at 3 pm.

The theme for our walk this year is Steps Toward a Multiracial Democracy

We'll gather at Rock Street Park in Portsmouth and the walk will begin at 3 pm. Please plan to arrive a little earlier for check-in. We have materials for sign making available at 2 pm and will also host a sign-making party Friday, July 8 at 6 pm at South Church in Portsmouth. We'll bring the materials, you bring the ideas! Pizza will be served, please RSVP.

Our speakers:

The Honorable (Jackie) Jacquelyne K. Weatherspoon served six years in the New Hampshire House of Representatives serving on the Election Law Committee and General Court of New Hampshire. Her first piece of legislation passed, The UN CEDAW Resolution, Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Jackie attended the 4^th UN Women' Conference on Women and Development in Beijing, China, 1995. Jackie served as a seconded person with Diplomatic Status at the US State Department, Implementing the Last Phases of the Dayton Agreement in Bosnia -Hercegovina for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Jackie has served with UNDP, UNIFEM and UN Women as the Senior International Election Officer in Malawi, Nigeria, and Tanzania. Jackie has served on the UN Electoral Experts Committee and Technical Advisor with Club de Madrid, Former Heads of State on issues of Women, Leadership, Peace and Security in the Greater Horn of Africa with the G-40. At home Jackie has recently completed her political appointment with the US Civil Rights Commission, State Advisory Committee. Jackie serves as a Mediator and Trainer for the Harvard Law School Community Mediation Program under the PON( Program On Negotiation) program. Jackie serves under FINRA and is an inducted member of the Academy of Court Appointed Neutrals. Jackie is on the State Committee for the New Hampshire Democratic Party, serving on the Rules Committee and co-chairs the NHDP African American Caucus. Jackie joyfully supports the Working Group on Girls through her organization, Decisions In Democracy International, DIDI.

She is a proud member of NH LWV and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association and the Federal Bar Association.

Rekha Mahadevan is a rising senior at Berwick Academy. She enjoys a wide range of subjects at school including math, science, and the arts. Rekha has received many accolades at her school including achieving Cum Laude status in her junior year and receiving the Johns Hopkins Book award which is given to a student who uses their intellect for the betterment of society. Rekha has been inducted into the National Art Honor Society and the National Latin Honor Society. She also won the state of Maine’s Scholastic silver key Art award for her self portrait titled "Weight of the World. Rekha is passionate about social and environmental justice, leading the community service club and sustainability club at her school. Most recently, she worked on a project to bring recognition to five neglected tombstones of an African American family in her hometown of Madbury from the 19th Century. Rekha is also a tour guide at the Black Heritage Trail of NH and the vice president of the Seacoast NAACP Youth Council.

Maggie Fogarty, Program Director, American Friends Service Committee/NH. Maggie joined the staff of AFSC's New Hampshire Program in July of 2007 when she and her family returned to the United States after living and working for several years in Bolivia. Her work in New Hampshire is dedicated to movement building for economic justice, racial justice, immigrant rights and nonviolence. As a community organizer, policy advocate, and coalition-builder, she is grounded in Quaker values and a commitment to ensuring that directly-impacted people are supported as leaders in the struggle to create more justice and more peace.

Nur Shoop, Civil Rights Volunteer Guide at the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire will guide us through Portsmouth, stopping at several key Civil Rights sites and explaining their significance. Nur does the Thirst for Freedom Tour which focuses on Portsmouth's slave economy through the civil rights movement. She is also a Sankofa Scholar and lead tour guide with the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire, which she has been with for 8 years. An experienced tour guide, Nur has developed key strategies for sharing and interpreting conflicting histories, and is certified as a guide by the National Association for Interpretation