General Edward O. Gourdin park to open next spring in Roxbury’s Nubian Square

Come next spring, a life-size bronze statue of General Edward O. Gourdin, installed on a granite pedestal, will stand in a park named after him in the heart of Roxbury’s Nubian Square.

General Edward O. Gourdin and African American Veterans Memorial and Park, a $1.4-million investment in city and state funds, will serve as a sign of Boston’s commitment to recognizing and serving all Black veterans who call the city home, Mayor Michelle Wu said Friday during a celebration at the park.

“We know over the decades of systemic exclusion from the G.I. Bill’s benefits after World War II to the disparities that persist today in physical and mental health care, in so many ways our Black veterans have been denied the dignity, respect and gratitude they deserve,” Wu said. “This is just one small step in the right direction.”

City officials held a groundbreaking at the 18,000-square-foot triangular parcel, bordered by Washington Street, Malcolm X Boulevard, and Shawmut Avenue, in October 2021, and the park is expected to open next spring.

Gourdin served as commander and general of one of the Army’s last racially segregated African American battalions during World War II.

In addition to the Gourdin statue, the park will feature 10 bronze bas relief portraits of Black veterans from the American Revolution to the Iraq War. City resident Karen Eutemey is the artist behind the portraits, five of which will be of her uncles and another of her father, all of whom served in the Armed Forces.

“My desire is to tell at least a fraction of each person’s story,” Eutemey said. Her cousin Fern Cunningham Terry sculpted the Gourdin statue before she died in August 2020.

Robert Santiago, the city’s commissioner of veterans services, called the park long overdue. The 20-year veteran of the Navy cited data from the Department of Defense’s 2019 demographics report that showed Blacks comprising 17% of the country’s 1.3 million active duty members.

“This is a vital statistic that deserves to be humanized,” Santiago said.