Tri-Town Against Racism, Mattapoisett Land Trust open ‘Story Walk’ for Black History Month
Feb 11, 2024
Pages of “Coretta,” an autobiography of Coretta Scott King, stand throughout Dunseith Gardens as part of the Black History Month “Story Walk” organized by Tri-Town Against Racism and the Mattapoisett Land Trust. Photos by Erez Ben-Akiva
Attendees at the Feb. 10 opening reception for the story walk.
The story walk will be in Dunseith Gardens through February and likely into March, depending on weather.
Tri-Town Against Racism also organized a Black History Month story walk with the Sippican Lands Trust at Peirson Woods in Marion. The organization was not able to set a walk up in Rochester this year, according to communications director Jessica DeCicco-Carey.
MATTAPOISETT – During the month of February, a stroll through Dunseith Gardens in Mattapoisett is more than just a walk in the park.
As part of a Black History Month “Story Walk” organized by the Mattapoisett Land Trust and Tri-Town Against Racism, pages of the book “Coretta” written by Coretta Scott King and illustrated by Ekua Holmes are lined throughout the garden.
The two groups held an opening reception Saturday, Feb. 10 at the park, at which attendees walked the trail of book pages and illustrations.
The walk is the second annual Black History Month story walk at Dunseith Gardens, according to Mattapoisett Land Trust director and education chair Ellen Flynn.
“We would like to see a lot of children see black authors and people that are black on pages,” Flynn said.
Tri-Town Against Racism communications director Jessica DeCicco-Carey said the walk gets people outdoors, reading a story and learning something new. It also serves as a way for Tri-Town Against Racism to become more involved “in a positive way” during Black History Month.
“This is a way for us to get ourselves out there and celebrate black joy, where a lot of people may not totally think that’s a good idea,” DeCicco-Carey said.
At Dunseith Gardens, the pages of “Coretta” looped counter-clockwise through the park. “Coretta” is a children’s version of the autobiography of Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s wife.
On the mild Saturday morning of the opening reception, chirps of birds and the babble of a stream could be heard near some of the pages.
Flynn said she would like to see more events like the story walk occur.
“I can’t really figure out why this community doesn’t know that much about black history but we’re going to see it,” she said while speaking to the group of attendees at the reception. “We’re going to make it happen.”
There is also a Black History Month story walk in Marion’s Peirson Woods. That walk’s book is "A Day With No Words" by Tiffany Hammond and illustrated by Kate Cosgrove.
Tri-Town Against Racism was not able to set up a story walk in Rochester this year, according to DeCicco-Carey.
The Dunseith Gardens story walk will stay up through the end of February and likely into March, depending on weather, DeCicco-Carey said.
