WATCH | Sarah Parker Remond Portrait Unveiled on First Day of New School
The portrait of Sarah Parker Remond, a gift from the City of Salem, was unveiled Wednesday morning, Sept. 2, at the Sarah Parker Remond School (formerly Saltonstall School). Mayor Dominick Pangallo, members of the Salem City Council and Salem School Committee, Senator Joan Lovely’s office, Superintendent Tommy Welch and Salem Public Schools leadership joined Claire Galloway-Jones and Teresa Harvey-Jackson, both first cousins five times removed of Ms. Remond, for the ceremony.
“When the School Committee voted in February to change the name of this building, the decision to adopt a moniker in honor of Sarah Parker Remond was a unanimous one,” said Mayor Pangallo. “Sarah experienced the injustices of school segregation firsthand, when she and her siblings were excluded from Salem’s public schools nearly two centuries ago. She became powerful voices for abolition and civil rights in the years that followed, though. The injustices to which she was subjected early in life only served to further kindle her passion for freedom and equality. Her courage and determination changed history – so it’s fitting that this year (which happens to be the 200th anniversary of her birth) we’re naming this school in her honor. It’s a reflection of our commitment to telling the full story of our past and ensuring that future generations know the contributions of those who fought to expand opportunity and justice.
“In Salem, we live with and grow from our history, and the many, sometimes challenging, lessons that it has to impart to us,” he added. “We don’t shy away from our responsibility to be a more just community – because injustice, as Sarah once observed, becomes “engraved on our hearts.” The work of Salem’s Black residents to advance equality, suffrage, education, and democracy through the centuries is history that we must continue to elevate, to learn from, and to honor. It’s why Sarah Parker Remond’s story remains profoundly relevant today. And I hope that all who walk through the doors of this school over the years to come will be inspired by her name and by that history – inspired to carry forward Sarah Parker Remond’s advocacy, her ideas, her hopes, and her passion, for a more equitable world for all.”
