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BOSTON - Friday,
October 8, 2021 - Mayor Kim Janey yesterday joined veterans, park advocates,
and neighborhood residents to break ground on a memorial park in Roxbury,
honoring Justice Edward O. Gourdin and other Black war veterans.
Justice Edward O.
Gourdin Veterans Memorial Park, located in the heart of Nubian Square, will
now be home to a memorial plaza dedicated to the Black veterans of
Massachusetts. The 18,000-square-foot triangular parcel is bordered by
Washington Street, Malcolm X Boulevard, and Shawmut Avenue. The project is
the result of the steadfast, multi-year efforts of the Veterans and Friends
of Gourdin Memorial Park community group.
"Justice
Gourdin was a man of ‘firsts’ and I’m so thankful to the community partners
who have come together to memorialize his legacy,” said Mayor Kim Janey.
“Justice Gourdin’s military service in a segregated unit reminds us of all
the Black war veterans who did not receive the thanks or treatment they
deserved. This memorial will serve as an important tribute to Black service
members - past, present, and future.”
The artwork design
and construction is being funded by the Browne Fund, the Mayor's Capital
Improvement Program, and a grant from the MA Department of Veterans'
Services. The overall park construction is being funded by the Mayor’s
Capital Improvement program with a total budget of $1,405,000.
The late Boston
artist Fern Cunningham-Terry created the figurative bronze sculpture of
Justice Gourdin as one of her final works through her career that produced
many notable pieces including “Step on Board” in the South End’s Harriet
Tubman Park. The memorial artwork consists of the Gourdin statue and 10
bronze bas relief sculptures made by artist Karen Eutemey representing
Black soldiers across 10 different wars. Complementing the memorial will be
an interpretive entry marker, all set within a commemorative plaza designed
by Martha Lyon Landscape Architecture.
A man of many great
achievements, Edward Orval "Ned" Gourdin was the first Black and
the first Indigenous (Seminole) person to be appointed a Superior Court
judge in New England. He served the Roxbury District Court from 1951 until
1958, when he was appointed to the Massachusetts Superior Court, a post he held
until his death in 1966. Gourdin studied law at Harvard University,
where he completed both his undergraduate and law school degrees. An
exceptional athlete, he was the first man in history to long jump 25 feet
and the first Black Olympian to win a silver medal in the Olympics in the
long jump event.
As a sophomore at
Harvard, he joined the Student Training Corps, and in 1925 enlisted in the
National Guard. In 1941, he entered World War II where he was assigned to
the 372nd Infantry Regiment, a segregated unit, and
served as its commanding officer both in the United States and abroad. He
rose to the rank of colonel, serving until 1947. After his discharge,
Gourdin rejoined the National Guard and served until 1959 in the 272nd Field Artillery Battalion. He retired having earned the
rank of Brigadier General, the first Black soldier to earn this rank in
Massachusetts.
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