Sudbury To Celebrate Race Amity Day

SUDBURY, MA — Sudbury will celebrate its second annual Race Amity Day Sunday, June 9, with activities for both adults and children. All events are at the Goodnow Library, 21 Concord Rd.

The Sudbury Race Amity Day celebration starts at 1:30 p.m. with the reading of the Selectmen’s proclamation and Police Chief Scott Nix reflecting on his friendship with William “Smitty” Smith, former principal of Curtis Middle School and the founder of the National Center for Race Amity.

Smith’s documentary film, The American Story: Race Amity and the Other Tradition, will be shown at 2 p.m., followed by a facilitated discussion. A family-friendly drop-in story time and crafts focusing on friendships between individuals of diverse races will be available at the same time, 2-4 p.m., at the library. The celebration will conclude with a Gathering of Friends, with music and reflections, at 4 p.m.

The first Massachusetts Race Amity Day was June 12, 2011, in Boston with honorary co-chairs Governor Deval Patrick and Mayor Thomas Menino. In 2015, the Massachusetts legislature established that the second Sunday in June would be Race Amity Day in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and in 2018, the Sudbury Board of Selectmen followed suit, creating Sudbury Race Amity Day.