~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

................Town Hall Civil War Tablets

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“In 1893, the Grand Army of the Republic, a Civil War veterans organization-donated to Amherst six (6) large marble tablets that displayed the names of over 300 men from Amherst and surrounding communities who had enlisted in the Union cause on Amherst's behalf. Among these, were at least twenty-one (21) black soldiers-fathers and sons, brothers, uncles and nephews who enlisted together and served in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry or one of two cavalry regiments."

 

 

These historical details were referenced at the Amherst annual town meeting in April 2009, by the Community Preservation Act Committee (CPAC) as they entered into Phase I of the Civil War Tablets restoration project. Today, with the cleaning of the plaques completed, the Amherst Historical Society and CPAC are focusing on restoring a place of honor where this tribute to the men of Amherst would be displayed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Etched in Stone

Of the six marble tablets donated by the E.M. Stanton Post 147 of the Grand Army of the Republic, only one bore the names of men who died. The remaining five bore the names of those who served and returned, including members of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry (Colored) Regiment. 

 

To make a gift of these tablets is honorable. To include the names of Colored Servicemen is an act of courage which not only memorializes blacks participating in the Civil War; but, presented at a time when segregation was the norm, become a symbol of desegregation - an affirmation of unity!

 

Realize that by 1893, the Reconstruction era was over. In the South, Jim Crow laws mandating de jure segregation, weakened rights gained by Blacks through the Reconstruction era Amendments (13th, 14th and 15th).

Though often hiding in the shadows of southern violence, the North practiced de facto segregation. Using Enlightenment questions such as: Are the daughters and sons of Ham made in the image of God, Northerners were able to keep Blacks in the balcony of their churches. 

 

These Calvanist attitudes about the innate inferiority of the Black man caused concern that Blacks were neither competent fighters, nor loyal to the Republic. This gift to the town of Amherst -and other towns similarly gifted- by the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) proved the worthyness of its honorees.  

 

Seventy years after these tablets were brought into Amherst's Town Hall, with the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Federal Government finally took a step towards deconstruction of the racist pathology that separates blacks and whites, by addressing its part in the institutional racism that both silenced and stifled Black participation in the formation of this Republic.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About some of the men who fought....

════════CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO MAIN PAGE════════

Dr. Amilcar Shabazz
Dr. Amilcar Shabazz

Dedicated to

Dr. Amilcar Shabazz, chair of W.E.B. DuBois Department of Afro-American Studies, and instructor of the class "Heritage Of The Oppressed." Thank you for reminding us the importance of learning the stories of the "other." 

Number of visitors since Feb 28, 2012