African-American Monument Committee (PVMA, Deerfield, Massachusetts)
Beginning in the fall of 2004, a small group began discussions as to how we could rectify the fact that – of all the many monuments, tablets, gravestones, etc. that exist in Deerfield, Massachusetts – there is no public acknowledgement of the fact that slavery was widespread and generally accepted in this area, not only in Deerfield but in other Connecticut River Valley towns of western Massachusetts. One would in fact find it difficult to learn that any blacks, free or enslaved, ever lived in this area.
Under the auspices of PVMA (the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association) we plan to begin by erecting a plaque in the “Memorial Room” of the PVMA Museum in Deerfield. Below is our committee’s “Vision Statement”, as of February, 2005.
Should you wish to contribute to support this project, donations in any amount will be welcome. Donations are, of course, tax-deductible. Checks should be made out to "PVMA" but with a note ON THE CHECK of the intended purpose: "African-American Memorial".
Send donations to: PVMA (Att: Timothy Neumann, Executive Director), 10 Memorial Street, Deerfield Mass. 01342. Thank you for your help.
VISION STATEMENT, GOALS AND STRATEGIES
Vision Statement
Many people come to Deerfield to learn about the history of this community and its people, but currently little is being done to interpret the lives of enslaved or free African Americans who once lived in this place. An African-American Monument Committee, which includes representatives from Deerfield Academy, Bement School, Historic Deerfield, Inc., Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Old Sturbridge Village, Amherst College, Five College Learning and Retirement, as well as community members, is interested giving greater visibility to the African-American experience in Deerfield, Franklin County, and western Massachusetts. Therefore, the Committee will work with Deerfield’s museums and educational institutions to incorporate this history, with a focus on enslaved and free African Americans in Deerfield, through art, material culture, history and education.
1. Install a bas-relief or wall plaque with a readily recognizable African-American design in the Memorial Room of Memorial Hall Museum on the occasion of the museum’s 125th anniversary in 2005.
2. Create a walking tour/information brochure of Deerfield that gives background on the history of African Americans in the area and identifies sites where enslaved or free African Americans lived. Identify sites with a marker with the African-American design.
3. Create an outdoor monument or sculpture with a readily recognizable African-American design.
4. Develop a long-range plan to add to our knowledge of African-American life and culture in western Massachusetts.
1. In 2005, install a bas-relief or wall plaque with symbols meaningful especially to African Americans in the Memorial Room of Memorial Hall Museum. The Committee enthusiastically endorses a design by Shamek Weddle of an African drum surrounded by chain (broken at the bottom) and cowry shells. Shamek explains his design: “I was inspired to go beyond regions of ownership and time, a call to and from the past to the future and the present. The ‘call’ is symbolized in the African drum, communicating to all African Diaspora spiritual presence: past, present and future. My drawing allows Deerfield to join with all other national and international historic sites of the African Diaspora. The cowry shells focus on African-based religion and values; and how a lot of those beliefs and values have not been completely lost even with such strong culture-killers as the American slavery system--hence the broken chain.”
Instead of a permanent inscription in stone, which is historically how the tablets in the Memorial Room were created, the wall plaque will stand alone as a symbolic work of art. It should be interpreted with an interactive activity (audio or visual or flip book) that can be updated as time goes on.
2. Research, write, and print a brochure with information on enslaved and free African Americans
who lived in the area. Explain why we know very little about them. The brochure would
be available at the museums and schools, and updated and revised as time, funds and new research
permit.
3. Identify sites in Deerfield to key in with the brochure with markers having the drum & chain symbol. The sites would include houses, the Civil War monument, and the burying grounds on Albany Road and Laurel Hill. Since various parties own these sites (Historic Deerfield, Inc., Deerfield Academy, the town of Deerfield, and private owners), negotiations are needed.
4. Create an African-American monument or sculpture, to be placed on the lawn of Memorial Hall
Museum or on the common.
5. Identify resources (artists, historians, funding) to accomplish these goals.
This document was prepared collaboratively by the following Committee members: Suzanne Flynt, Anne Lanning, Doris McKethan, Tim Neumann, Jessica Neuwirth, Robert Romer, Shamek Weddle, Ann-Marie White, Reynolds Winslow
February 3, 2005