AMHERST — As a young girl, Dr. Latoya Bosworth of Springfield remembers venturing to Hazel Avenue in Amherst with her grandmother to visit relatives and hear stories and, when the weather was nice, play in the yards and listen to the jazz music coming from the porches of homes where some of the town’s Black families lived.

“My grandmother was born here and our family goes back generations here,” Bosworth said of the dead-end street off Northampton Road.

On Dec. 21, Bosworth was among those witnessing the dedication of the Westside Historic District, in place for more than 20 years, but for the first time recognized with a new street sign reading “Western Historic District.”

For Bosworth, the event is remarkable to see a place she has known her whole life valued for its history. “It’s amazing to me that this is now deemed a historic district,” Bosworth said.

Getting the sign in place was a project of both the town and District 4 Councilor Anika Lopes, who founded the Ancestral Bridges Foundation, in part, to carry on the work of her late grandfather, Dudley Bridges Sr. Bridges did extensive research into the history of Black and Afro-Indigenous families in Amherst and his life’s work helped make the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

The sign was first revealed at this year’s Juneteenth Legacy Celebration on what would have been her grandfather’s 100th birthday

“I know he’s here saying ‘it’s about time,’” Lopes said, who acknowledged her appreciation that the town is recognizing and celebrating a historical part of the community where her ancestors were relegated to live.

The brief ceremony on a frigid morning, coming before the sign was revealed and people could pose for pictures, began with a reading of a proclamation from the Town Council, with segments read by some of the councilors, Amherst Regional High School Principal Talib Sadiq, University of Massachusetts Professor Amilcar Shabazz, Kamal Ali, the founder of the Islamic Society of Western Massachusetts, state Rep. Mindy Domb, Debora Bridges, curator of the Civil War tablets exhibit and Lopes. Numerous town officials and employees, along with some descendants of those who called the neighborhood home, were on hand.

Like Bosworth, Lopes remembers visiting as a child, including being at the home of her great-grandfather, Gil Roberts. In fact, the ceremony was held in front of the home where he was born in 1896. Roberts gained international fame as a jazz musician, died when he was 106 and his image is on the Amherst History Mural at West Cemetery.

Roberts’ father, Perry, who was born enslaved, was the son of another Perry Roberts, who once lived alongside abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass on Wye House Plantation in Maryland.

In addition to Hazel Avenue, the 40-acre district includes Northampton Road, Snell Street, Baker Street and along the railroad tracks and was a one of the few neighborhoods in town where Blacks and Indigenous people could live and own homes, from the time of slavery to continued systemic racist practices, which Lopes said included redlining, exclusionary zoning, inequitable GI bills and housing segregation.

“It’s a living history that embodies the strength, resilience and determination of Black and Indigenous people who established a vibrant and enduring community in downtown Amherst despite horrific challenges,” Lopes said.

Shabazz said the district recognizes the resilience, struggles and dignity of the families that called the neighborhood home and the ceremony is about bringing people together and sharing all of the town’s history.

And Debora Bridges observes the happy times in the neighborhood.

“Hazel Avenue was all family, always watching each other’s children as they played,” Bridges said. “The family musicians played in the summer nights and loved just being together.”

Lopes said the sign’s placement is a visible representation of Ancestral Bridges’ work to uplift and reach out.

“This is just a seed,” Lopes said. “This is just the beginning of the recognition.”