When commemorating Acton’s history, let’s learn as we change
As we in Acton go about discussing the future of the Black Heritage Trail, [let’s] keep this in mind.
When Maya Lin’s Vietnam War Memorial was unveiled in Washington, D.C., in 1981, controversy followed. This was because Lin’s minimalist design was not in keeping with the city’s dominant, commemorative mode.
Lin’s memorial was not made of white stone, like other monuments. It was different. It was low and dark. It was more like a scar than a monument. It did not memorialize individual historical figures. Rather, it listed every name of every individual killed in that tragic war.
It is easy to forget that, at the time, because of its difference — because it did not look “heroic” — the monument’s aesthetic was even said by some to be disrespectful of the very dead it wished to honor.
And now the memorial is beloved.
As we in Acton go about discussing the future of the Black Heritage Trail — a project for which there is great deal of support, given the importance of its message — let’s keep this in mind. Our view of history is thankfully open to debate, questioning, and change. Yesterday’s history is not today’s history, and our aesthetic sense, in my opinion, should also have room for debate, questioning, and perhaps — even in a town that isn’t always fond of change — change.
To learn is to change. There is no way to have one without the other.
No matter the Black Heritage Trail’s final appearance, I suspect that it will, in time, become a change that our community takes deep pride in and loves.
Craig Awmiller
Lang Street
