Letter: The Civil War & Juneteenth Memorial Project

The Civil War & Juneteenth Memorial Project is a group of Amherst residents, some of whom are descendants of Civil War veterans, and we are planning a major event for June 19, 2021, on  the day that will mark the first time that Massachusetts will celebrate the end of slavery as an  official state holiday. We hope that what we are planning will become one of the state’s most important commemorative activities on that date. 

We would like to secure a commitment from  the town of Amherst that the 1893 Memorial Tablets that pay homage to the heroism of  soldiers of African and European descent that served in the Civil War will be publicly displayed  on June 19, 2021. Whether they are displayed in their permanent site or not, we would like to  incorporate a viewing of the tablets in our event planning. Can you commit to the tablets being  viewable on a public site by June 19, 2021? 

Members of our committee hope that town officials will allow us to work with them to find a secure and accessible site where this important civic monument can be viewed. For more than  six months now we have offered our assistance and concern, and we even had a date set for us  to view the tablets in the Ruxton Storage facility last August that was canceled. We continue to  pray that the tablets are not damaged and that they will be safely removed from this facility to  the Bangs Community Center as was previously discussed. We hope this will soon be done and  that we will be told when we can see the tablets as soon as possible.  

Finally, it is our aim to make the Juneteenth holiday a major day of remembrance of the joyous  spirit of liberation and human rights that followed the Civil War’s end of the and culminated in  the demise of the slaveholder’s world on the 19th of June. How our community and the  Commonwealth mobilized to defend the United States and to end slavery is the story our event  will highlight in art, music, dance, food, orations, history tours and reenactments, all in tribute  to the town’s 312 Civil War soldiers and sailors, and the families they fought for and were  supported by. We hope that the town will partner with us to make Juneteenth a special day.  

We the undersigned are a part of this project and support the display of tablets on Juneteenth: 

Debora Bridges 
Anika Lopes 
Amilcar Shabazz 
Demetria Shabazz 
Carlie Tartakov 
Gary Tartakov