Amherst’s 2022 celebration will include a heritage walking tour at 11 AM and a jubilee on the Common at noon. The walking tour will begin in Amherst’s West Cemetery where soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment and of the 5th Cavalry, who alerted Texas residents that the Civil War and slavery had ended, are buried.

Along the way, visitors stop at The Emily Dickinson Museum where stories of Charles Thompson and other Black residents familiar with the Dickinson Family are featured. Two other stops include Hope Church, the first Black church in Amherst; and Goodwin Memorial AME Zion Church, where the cultural and religious lives of Black Amherst residents are highlighted.