Local organizers are preparing for the unveiling next month of a memorial in Roxbury dedicated to Black veterans.
The memorial in Nubian Square will be named after Edward Orval Gourdin, who served in the 372nd Infantry regiment during World War II and the 272nd Field Artillery Battalion in the Massachusetts National Guard. He was the first African American brigadier general in the state Guard, the first Black judge in the state’s Superior Court and an Olympic silver medalist. The memorial is dedicated to him and, more broadly, Black veterans.
“We need a project to not only pay tribute to General Gourdin and all the things that he did and represented our community, but it also fills in a need [to honor] African American military contributions that date back to the American Revolution,” said Haywood Fennell, president of the Veterans and Friends of Gourdin Memorial Park Committee, which has led the push for the installation of the memorial and the renovation of the surrounding park.
Alongside the statue of General Gourdin are 10 bas-reliefs sculpted by Karen Eutemey representing Black military contributions from the American Revolution to the Iraq war. PHOTO: RICHARD NICHOLS
“It talks about Black patriotism,” Fennell continued. “It talks about fighting when they didn’t want us to fight. It talks about still fighting for rights for veterans.”
The memorial features a sculpture of Gourdin, designed by the late Fern Cunningham-Terry of Boston, alongside 10 bas-reliefs sculpted by Karen Eutemey representing Black military contributions from the American Revolution to the Iraq war.
All of the bronze sculptures were cast from clay models created by Jeff Buccacio and his Canton-based foundry.
The process of developing the memorial started more than 20 years ago when Ralph F. Browne Jr., a member of the 272nd Battalion, set out to establish a monument to recognize African American veterans.
Wilma Browne, his wife and a member of the Veterans and Friends Committee, said it was the vision of her husband, who died in 2012, to see a park in Roxbury to serve as a memorial. Ralph Browne organized an association of veterans from the 272nd battalion to request city permission to redevelop the park space at Washington Street and Malcom X Boulevard in Nubian Square — formerly known as Dudley Square Plaza — into a memorial to Gourdin.
Those efforts began in 1996, Wilma Browne said. In 2016, the Veterans and Friends Committee organized as a nonprofit dedicated to developing the park and memorial, as well as informing the public about Gourdin and African American military history.
One of the 10 bas-reliefs representing Black military contributions. PHOTO: RICHARD NICHOLS
The creation of memorial goes beyond the installation of the sculpture and bas reliefs. As part of the project, Martha Lyon Landscape Architecture has renovated the surrounding park space.
Lyon said when she first saw the city-owned space, it had a series of walkways that served more like a passthrough than a park. In redesigning it, she aimed to declutter the area and make it feel more removed from the bustle of the three busy streets that run around it.
“This has to be a commemorative space, which you think of as being calm, and a place where you can go and be at peace and meditate,” she said. “I spent a lot of time thinking about what the best way to calm the place down and create something that would be simple and serene and elegant and would also accomplish the goals of the project.”
In her design, Lyon worked to create a sense of entry that guides visitors into the central plaza — star-shaped to honor the five branches of the U.S. military — while enclosing the park with trees to separate it from the roads.
For Wilma Browne, seeing her husband’s vision come to fruition is exciting but a little bittersweet, in that he did not get to see it completed. Most of all, she’s gratified to see it finally done.
Bas-relief representing a Gulf War soldier. PHOTO: RICHARD NICHOLS
“My feeling is, ‘Finally!’ It’s taken so long to get to this point, and so many people have been involved,” she said.
She said she is also excited for the memorial to serve as an educational opportunity for members of the community who might not know about some of the prominent figures who have been involved in Roxbury’s history.
“The young people need to know their history. It shouldn’t be taken away from them. It should be improved. It should be increased,” she said. “And that’s what we hope to do with this park; we want to have an ongoing thing so it will become the educational tool.”
The completion of the memorial is the first phase in the project, Fennell said. Next, the organization will be working on putting together an after-school curriculum to teach local students about the legacy of African American veterans.
“African American veterans have fought all over the world, from France to Iwo Jima, to Europe, to Vietnam and Afghanistan. You know, we have a history of sacrifice and bravery and honor,” he said.
The memorial is scheduled to be unveiled August 1 at 1 p.m.
