A haunting song written by local artist, Adam Sweet. He wrote an introduction to this song on his Bandcamp page…..
Inspired by John M. Gerber’s thought-provoking blog post, “Why is the Town of Amherst Still Called Amherst, Revisited,” published on The Amherst Indy (read it here: www.amherstindy.org/2025/07/11/why-is-the-town-of-amherst-still-called-amherst-revisited/), this folk ballad traces the complex history of Amherst, Massachusetts, and its controversial namesake, Lord Jeffery Amherst. Through evocative lyrics, the song explores the colonial ambitions, Indigenous struggles, and moral questions tied to the town’s name, urging listeners to reflect on legacy and change. Written and performed by Adam Sweet, this track blends heartfelt storytelling with acoustic melodies, capturing the spirit of the Pioneer Valley. All proceeds support Indigenous awareness initiatives in the Amherst community. Thank you for listening!
The following is a revised version of comments presented to the Interfaith Opportunity Network on June 18, 2025, upon invitation. This post does not represent the views of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst but has been informed by the values and principles of Unitarian Universalism. Comments are welcome below.
A group of UUSA members have been working to explore ways to honor and learn from indigenous culture, to acknowledge the harms done by our European ancestors to Native peoples, and to “disassociate our congregation from the harms done by General Lord Jeffrey Amherst” whose name must be spoken every time we refer to our beloved community.
The suggestion to change the name of our congregation and remove the word “Amherst” was brought to the UUSA Board of Trustees in 2021 by the board co-president at that time. Inspired by this remark and further investigation, John Gerber wrote an editorial for the local independent press titled “Why is the Town of Amherst still called Amherst?
Friends and neighbors are welcome to enjoy my sharing garden again this year. The entrance is on Rolling Ridge Dr., next to the path between Harlow Dr. and Rolling Ridge and just across the street from the new flower farmstand at 151 Rolling Ridge. If you drive, you are welcome to pull into the gate that opens into my gardens.
You are welcome to stroll about, come and sit, and help yourself to any of the flowers, vegetables, or fruit you come across.
The entrance looks like this…..
The first edible plant you will see is the mulberry tree with two chairs underneath. I make mulberry muffins from these fruit when they begin to ripen and turn red.
Sunday, June 15th is Phyl’s 5-year Yahrzeit (anniversary of her death) and I thought I’d share a few thoughts. I started writing this while sitting on the deck of a mountain house looking at the majesty of Mt. Rainier, outside of Seattle….
THE REST OF THE ORIGINAL POST IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THS PAGE. RECIPIENTS WERE INVITED TO SHARE THEIR OWN MEMORIES, WHICH ARE RECORDED BELOW.
Several people who responded to my 2022 post in the Amherst Indy titled “Why is the Town of Amherst still called Amherst?” shared their personal opinions regarding my suggestion to change the name of the town. It struck me as interesting that some of the most strongly held opinions were based on “urban myths” that seem to be accepted as true. So I did a little digging and learned….
In 1734, the east inhabitants of Hadley petitioned the General Court to create the third precinct of East Hadley (which is now Amherst), on the condition that a settled orthodox minister be named. Families from the surrounding towns began to occupy the new precinct.
The April 3, 1758 Record of the Town Meeting of Hadley documented a request to appoint a committee to write a petition to the Massachusetts General Court (the governing body of the British Crown) which would change the precinct of East Hadley, to a district with a separate town government. No mention was made of a new name at that time.
In June 1758, a petition was filed with the General Court requesting the representative of the British crown, Governor Pownall, create a new district to be called “Amherst.”
The Governor approved the proposal on February 13, 1759.
The first meeting of the new district of Amherst was held on March 19, 1759 at which time appointments were made for a treasurer, constable, surveyors and selectmen. They also approved highway work, money for a school, and a salary for the minister.
The district was incorporated as a town in 1775, maintaining the name Amherst.
I have been working with a group of active learners from around the world to apply the discipline of systems thinking to the climate crisis. This working group is sponsored by Common Earth and I recommend anyone who wants to struggle collectively to understand and develop an effective response to climate chaos to take one of their free classes.
One of the lessons that has emerged for me in this work is the reminder, once again, that “thinking alone is not enough” to address the problem of radical climate change. Nor is anger, fear or blame particularly effective. And this awareness applies not only to climate, but many other of the problems we face, including the chaos created by the new U.S. president. Indeed, each morning for the past month or so, when I read the news and eat my granola, I let myself feel grief.
As The Sierra Club outlined in an article titled “What’s in a Name?”… “Native Americans have long fought to change derogatory place-names,” and …. “it’s particularly offensive to Native Americans when geographical features in our ancient homelands and sacred places bear the names of violent colonizers.” Toward that end, in 2022, the U.S. Department of Interior changed the name of more than 650 geographic features across the country to remove a name offensive to Native peoples.
In an effort to understand the history of the name of our congregation, the Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst, it might be useful to examine where this name came from in the context of a desire to disassociate our congregation from the name of a violent colonizer. Hence… this proposal.
The following is a proposal initiated by the UUSA Indigenous Awareness Circle and modified and subsequently approved by the UUSA Racial, Religious and Ethnic Justice Circle. It was submitted to the UUSA Board of Trustees in July 2024 for consideration.
My gardens in North Amherst are open for you to enjoy again this summer. Access is on Rolling Ridge Rd (between 132 and 158) which is a side street off of East Pleasant. Please feel free to wander about, sit and relax, and pick anything you find. This garden is for sharing….
Look for the Wildlife Habitat sign by the gate. The entrance looks like this….
A short video walking in from the Rolling Ridge entrance.
The first edible plant you’ll find is the mulberry tree near the blue chairs. Mulberries should be picked when they are just about to fall off the plant (otherwise they will be kind of bitter).
I concluded my last post on repentance and repair with the suggestion to my Unitarian Universalist friends that “it is unlikely we will accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions (as it states in our own Eighth Principle) until we do the necessary repentance and repair work associated with America’s original sin.” That sin, according to the Reverend Wallace in America’s Original Sin; Racism, White Privilege and the Bridge to a New America, was the result of white supremacy. This post attempts to go deeper into this idea and suggests that “acknowledged grief” is a necessary a step toward repentance and repair.
“We Christians, in fact – British and American – were the ones who decided that we couldn’t do to Indigenous people and kidnapped Africans what we were doing if they were indeed people made in the image of God. What we did is we threw away Imago Dei. We threw it away to justify what we’re doing… white supremacy was America’s original sin… “
A quote from the Reverend Jim Wallace in “America’s Original Sin; Racism, White Privilege and the Bridge to a New America”
Many Unitarian Universalist congregations in the U.S. have voted to adopt the Eighth Principle which commits those congregations to “…actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.” American Unitarian Universalists like to point to our history as a liberal religion associated with the abolitionists in the early 19th century. At the same time, we need to be cautious about self-congratulatory rhetoric that ignores our historic complicity in the genocide, land theft and attempted erasure of Native peoples on this continent.
Acknowledging the contribution of our Calvinist religious ancestors to the genocide of Native peoples and the failure of Unitarians and Universalist ministers to speak out against the deportation of entire Native nations in the 19th century, might be a reasonable first step toward the work of repentance and repair that is long overdue.
Of course, the white supremacy culture that the Reverend Wallace refers to above as “America’s original sin” did not begin in the churches of colonial New England. The “just war theory” of 4th century bishop Augustine of Hippo and the “doctrine of discovery” promulgated by papal bulls of Pope Nicholas V in 1455 and Pope Alexander VI in 1493 laid the foundation for exploitation of native peoples by European settlers. Nevertheless, white supremacy and its associated violence were firmly planted on this continent at the Plymouth Plantation and the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the early 17th century. And our religious ancestors were there at the time.
Roots of Unitarian Universalism in New England
According to the Unitarian Universalist Association, the religious movement that evolved into both Unitarian and Universalist denominations in North America began with the Cambridge Platform of Church Discipline signed by English settlers in 1649.1 This platform described a system of church self-governance, free from hierarchical control, that continues to guide congregational churches of New England (including UU congregations) to this day. The Cambridge Platform affirms that the government should punish idolatry, blasphemy, heresy, and “the venting of corrupt and pernicious opinions”. This position gave the colonial government an endorsement from the Standing Order of New England Clergy (see diagram below) to punish indigenous people who were generally viewed as “corrupt and pernicious”
Changing the Story 