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Bring your bells, musical instruments, and your voices to a New Orleans style celebration of the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s historic March on Washington.  The Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail will be among hundreds of organizations across the nation sponsoring events on Wednesday, August 28th at 3 pm in commemorating Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement. (see more below) 

It was on August 28 in 1963 at 3PM that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. first uttered one of the most powerful and memorable phrases in American history, "I have a dream."  Dr. King’s speech in front of 300,000 people on the Mall in Washington marked a crucial turning point in the American Civil Rights movement and reaffirmed King’s absolute commitment to a nonviolent approach to confronting America's entrenched system of racial bias.  

In his speech, King urged Americans, “to transform the jangling discords of our nation” and “let freedom ring....from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire."  Those words resound through the years, celebrating the progress America has made in the quest for racial justice, while reminding us of the challenges that still confront our nation today.

In the spirit of what Dr. King called "the fierce urgency of now," the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change has invited people across the country to celebrate the Civil Rights leader's vision by ringing bells at 3 pm on August 28th, the 50th anniversary of his speech and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.  

The Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail will lead a musical street procession from the Discover Portsmouth Center to the African Burial Ground on Chestnut Street, where the public is invited to join in a traditional African acknowledgment of all who have gone before us in the struggle for justice.  The Leftist Marching Band, Ben Baldwin and many more musicians from the area will lead the procession.  

The celebration will conclude back at Discover Portsmouth with light refreshments provided by the Black Heritage Trail.  

Event Schedule: 

2:45 pm  Gather at Discover Portsmouth 

3:00 pm Join in nationwide ringing of bells

3:05 pm Procession to African Burying Ground

3:15 pm  Memorial Ceremony, Music and Reading of King’s “I Have a Dream”

3:30 pm Return to Discover Portsmouth for refreshments 

For more information about the event contact: 

The Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail operated by the Portsmouth Historical Society

10 Middle St. 

Portsmouth, NH 03801

(603) 436-8433 

www.PortsmouthHistory.org