PUBLIC ART & Monuments

As Boston approaches the 250th anniversary of American independence in 2026, Everyone250 is reimagining commemoration through the lenses of equity, truth, and civic engagement. This milestone offers a powerful opportunity to deepen public understanding, uplift overlooked narratives, and honor the full diversity of the communities that have shaped both Boston and the nation.

Boston’s legacy lives not only in its iconic landmarks but also in the neighborhoods, gathering places, and everyday spaces where resistance, creativity, and community flourished. Too many of these vital locations, especially those tied to BIPOC and historically minoritized communities, remain unrecognized in the city’s commemorative landscape. Everyone250 seeks to change that by creating a new narrative framework, one that reflects the depth and diversity of the city’s history.

The Monument Markers Program will commemorate sites across Boston and beyond through a collaborative, community-driven process. In partnership with local historians, grassroots organizations, Embrace Boston, the City of Boston, the Landmarks Commission, and MA250, this initiative is establishing permanent public markers that honor the spaces where cultural memory and collective resilience live.

The process begins with community-led discovery and an open site nomination process that invites residents to share stories and recommend locations of personal and historical importance. Working closely with historical institutions and advisory groups, Everyone250 will then review and contextualize selected sites, so that each marker is grounded in community insight.

Once selected, each site will be commemorated with a physical plaque designed to highlight its cultural and historical significance. The installation of the plaque will be accompanied by an unveiling event that may be an already scheduled gathering requested by the location. At the same time, a digital platform and interactive map will be launched as part of Everyone250’s experiential website. This resource will provide broader access to these stories through layered multimedia elements, including images, archival documents, and multilingual storytelling.

To celebrate the installations and engage the public, Everyone250 will organize a series of unveiling events, walking tours, and educational experiences. These programs will not only elevate the significance of the sites themselves but also foster intergenerational dialogue and reflection throughout the city.

Importantly, the initiative is designed with long-term accessibility and civic engagement in mind. The plaques and the digital platform together will serve as enduring tools for education, cultural exploration, and public memory. They will contribute to a new landscape of public history—one that honors the depth and complexity of Boston’s past, while inspiring its future.

These markers are not simply commemorative objects. They are acts of recognition. They are invitations to learn and reflect. And they are foundational pieces of a broader vision to build a more inclusive and truthful understanding of who Boston is, and who it can be.

Some sites in the Monument Marker Program may not be as old as Massachusetts’ more traditional landmarks. This is because many communities, particularly BIPOC, immigrant, and other historically marginalized groups, did not have the same opportunities or resources to preserve their spaces through formal recognition in earlier eras. Their histories were often overlooked, undocumented, or excluded from public commemoration.

By highlighting these sites today, the program seeks to broaden what counts as historically significant, recognizing that community memory, resilience, and cultural contribution are just as vital as age in shaping Boston’s story.