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Public Forum Confederate Plaques on OB Civil War Monument
May 21, 2019 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm EDT
Tuesday, May 21st 6PM – 8PM
Oak Bluffs Elementary School Cafeteria
50 Tradewinds Drive
Oak Bluffs, MA
We encourage everyone to come out and make their opinion heard regarding the removal of Confederate plaques on the Oak Bluffs Civil War Monument. The Soldiers’ Memorial Fountain was commissioned in 1891 by Charles Strahan, a Confederate veteran and a publisher of the Martha’s Vineyard Herald. The plaque on the statue was put up in 1925 (two weeks after the largest march of 50,000 hooded Klu Klux Klan members on Washington, DC). As an organization, the Marthas Vineyard Social Justice Leadership Foundation supports the MV NAACP in their request to remove these plaques and place them in the Martha’s Vineyard Museum.
The forum will begin with remarks from selectmen chairman Brian Packish before going into a historical perspective presentation from museum research librarian A. Bowdoin Van Riper. Public comment and discussion will follow before selectmen deliberate and take a potential vote. Here is a link to the background documents and timeline that has been posted on the town website:
Background and Timeline
Agenda
MVSJLF Letter of Support of NAACP Request for Plaque Removal
If you cannot attend, send an email with your comments to office administrator Alice Butler at abutler@oakbluffsma.gov