AMHERST — A family instrumental in getting the marble tablets recognizing the town’s Civil War soldiers, including members of a famed Black regiment, back on public display is being honored with the highest award from the Amherst Historical Society.
Anika Lopes, who serves on the Town Council representing District 4, and her mother, Debora Bridges, who is a tour guide for the plaques at the Bangs Community Center, will receive the Conch Shell for the work they have done in recent years when the society’s annual meeting commences at 2 p.m. Saturday.
The recognition also honors Bridges’ late father, Dudley Bridges Sr., who developed a plan for displaying the tablets that has kept them in the public consciousness.
As part of the event, Lopes and Bridges will talk about what they have done to get the tablets out from years of storage at a town gravel pit, and will reflect on how Dudley Bridges Sr. spent the last years of his life advocating and fundraising for the memorials, with many local residents and businesses donating to their preservation.
The conch shell, or “ye auld kunk,” a device used in the 1700s to call Amherst residents to town meeting and worship, will also begin bearing the name of Arthur F. Kinney, who created the award, first given in 2007. Kinney, whose name also adorns the Renaissance Center, died on Christmas Day.
The tablets, originally commissioned in 1893 by the local Grand Army of the Republic post, feature the names of more than 300 Union soldiers and sailors from Amherst, including the Black soldiers from the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment and 5th Cavalry.
Bridges’ great-great-great-grandfather, Christopher Thompson, and his brother Charles Thompson were among the soldiers that arrived in Texas in 1865, notifying people the Civil War had ended and with it, slavery per the Emancipation Proclamation. That arrival is now recognized nationally as Juneteenth.
The Zoom link for the annual meeting of the Historical Society is at amherstma.zoom.us/j/84371278321.
The League of Women Voters will hold a virtual annual luncheon featuring Smith College professor Carrie Baker at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
Baker, who writes columns for the Gazette, is an expert on reproductive rights and teaches courses on gender, law and public policy, feminist social movements, reproductive justice and feminist public writing.
To register for the event, go to lwvamherst.org.
The next Community Chat with Town Manager Paul Bockelman, to be held at noon on Feb. 17, will focus on the elementary school building project.
Guests will include Building Committee Chairwoman Cathy Schoen and Amherst School Committee Chairwoman Allison McDonald. A link to the live meeting will be posted on the town website and a recording will be uploaded to YouTube.
In addition to that chat, recorded committee meetings will be more regularly put on the online platform. Bockelman said with virtual meetings continuing, the town is making a commitment to have recordings up by Friday afternoon.
Communications Manager Brianna Sunryd said the process of creating the playlists takes time due to the size of the recordings, but the hope is to address a backlog of meetings and keep them up to date.
Black History Month’s celebration at the University of Massachusetts includes this week’s dining event at the Campus Center Auditorium featuring chefs Kevin Mitchell and Paulette Ngachoko.
Mitchell, a scholar of historical foodways of the American South, preserves Southern ingredients and champions the historical significance of African Americans in the culinary arts. His menu included catfish and crab stew, hoppin’ john fritters with tomato gravy and mushroom pilau.
Ngachoko is founder and CEO of Hapi African Gourmet. Her menu included West African cuisine such as jollof rice, puff puff/makala and soya/brochettes.
TUESDAY: Design Review Board, 5 p.m.