BRANCH MEETINGS
GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS
The Mystic Valley Branch of the NAACP meets on the 4th Monday of every month at 7:30PM. The schedule is modified for holidays and conflicting meetings. Branch meetings will continue to be held virtually on Zoom in order to maintain social distancing, until in person meetings are safe to resume.
Meeting dates for 2024:
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Monday, April 22nd
Monday, May 27th
Monday, June 24th
Monday, July 22nd
Monday, August 26th
Monday, September 23rd
Monday, October 28th
Monday, November 25th
Dec – Recess for the Holiday Season
Interested in attending a meeting or have questions? Please email us at info@mva-naacp.org
For more events and committee meeting dates check out the NAACP calendar
UPCOMING EVENTS
PAST EVENTS
This past January, the Mystic Valley Area Branch supported numerous Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebrations. In case you missed them, you can watch the 35th Annual MLK Jr. Observance held virtually in Arlington.
The return of the Annual Wine Tasting for 2022 was a success!
Thank you to all who donated, and joined the lovely evening filled with music, dancing and wine! A special thank you to all the sponsors and Kappy's Medford!
In case you missed our annual Prostate Cancer Awareness event in partnership with the AdMeTech Foundation this past October, you can watch the event!
The Mystic Valley Area Branch was excited to return to Arlington Town Day, this past September 2022.
THE QUOCK WALKER DAY BILL
S.2704 /H.3117 - An Act designating July 8 as Massachusetts Emancipation Day
Instructions for Supporting Quock Walker Day with One Email
Quock Walker’s Precedent Setting Journey to Freedom
On May 4, 1754, Zedekiah Stone sold Mingo, Dinah, and 9-month-old Quock to James Caldwell of the Rutland District for 180 pounds. Twenty-seven years later, in 1781, Quock Walker self-emancipated and was awarded monetary damages for being assaulted by his former enslaver. His former enslaver, who was the widower of James Caldwell’s widow, appealed the decision that Walker was a free man and lost the second case as well. Two years later, in 1783, Justice William Cushing of Scituate, who was the Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court during the last of the Quock Walker Cases, noted in his instructions to the jury, “the idea of slavery is inconsistent with our own conduct and Constitution”. Walker’s judicial journey ended slavery in Massachusetts and fostered growth of a Black middle class in Massachusetts. Children of the Quock Walker generation were born free and used their economic and political strength to fuel the abolitionist movement.
Youth of Quock Walker’s Generation and the Abolitionist Movement
Mary J. "Polly" Johnson (1784-1871) was an African American entrepreneur, one of New Bedford’s best-known abolitionists, and she and her husband provided the first free home for Frederick Douglass.
Mr. Walker’s nephew, Quock Walker Lewis (1798-1856), was born in Barre and was an active abolitionist and entrepreneur in Boston and Lowell. Mr. Walker Lewis, along with several fellow members of the Prince Hall Lodge, met in 1826 and established the Massachusetts General Colored Association (MGCA) “to promote the welfare of the race by working for the destruction of slavery.” The MGCA was the first all-black abolitionist organization in the United States. The MGCA later merged with William Lloyd Garrison’s New England Anti-Slavery Society, which was then renamed the Boston Anti-Slavery Society.
Celebrating Juneteenth
2022
This past Juneteenth the Mystic Valley Area Branch supported local celebrations including Woburn and Malden!
Check out the Get The Lead Out event
Here
Members of the branch participated in numerous Juneteenth events taking place across the Mystic Valley area. Celebrations and observances took place in Woburn, Medford, Malden, Arlington, Everett, Winchester and the First Parish Unitarian Universalist of Arlington. Juneteenth flags were raised, speeches, poetry, music and more were parts of the celebrations. Check out some photos from the events and recordings!
