Veterans and Friends of Gourdin Memorial Park is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising funds for the design, construction, placement, and maintenance of the General Edward Gourdin statue and the bas-reliefs to be installed in the General Edward O. Gourdin African American Veterans Memorial Park in Roxbury. We have been working for over twenty years to complete many important milestones in this highly complex project of local, state, and federal significance.
We seek to honor African American veterans of Massachusetts who served in all wars. The most distinguished is Justice Edward O. Gourdin who is honored with a full-length bronze portrait sculpted by Boston artist Fern Cunningham. Ten bas-reliefs carved by fellow sculptor Karen Eutemey celebrate the service of African American veterans from Massachusetts.
The impetus for this project was the 1988 rezoning of Gourdin Memorial Park as an “Open Space-Urban Plaza.” To develop the parcel, it was necessary to:
- Assemble the various distinct parcels owned by the then Boston Redevelopment Authority (now BPDA), MassDOT, and the City of Boston for future conveyance to the Parks and Recreation Commission;
- Engage the community in a conceptual design process; and
finally, - Identify financial support necessary to complete the design process, construct and maintain the Park in perpetuity.
To realize these objectives, an association of Roxbury veterans, the 272nd Field Artillery Battalion Association, under the leadership of one of its past Commandants, Ralph F. Browne, Jr., initiated a request to develop this parcel in Dudley Square as a park in honor of Brigadier General Gourdin. The Browne Fund funded the schematic design. To complete the planning for the Park, the Friends of the Roxbury Justice Edward O. Gourdin Memorial Park incorporated as the 501(c)(3) non-profit VFGMP in 2016. The organization is now working to raise funds for the creation of a sculpture of Justice Edward O. Gourdin and a series of ten reliefs. The relevant City of Boston departments, elected officials at the municipal, state,
VFGMP has been working for over twenty years to realize the project and has completed many important milestones in this highly complex project of local, state and federal significance:
- Continuous, significant outreach to all levels of government, veterans, businesses and community, etc.
- 10 years of conducting annual commemorative events and monthly meetings on the 2nd Tuesday at the William E. Carter Post in Mattapan
- Became registered with the Mass. Secretary of State as a non-profit corporation, creating articles of incorporation, and a conflict of interest policy
- Created corporation bylaws
- Elected a board of directors
- Developing an advisory board
- Was approved for 501(C)(3) status with IRS and
- Opened a bank account for the purposes of accepting donations & funding its fundraising program