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The Salem Award Foundation
The Salem Award for Human Rights and Social Justice Foundation was established in 2001 to carry on the work of the Salem Witch Trials Tercentenary Committee. The Foundation, under the leadership of the Mayor of the City of Salem and the President of Salem State College, works in cooperation with local museums, the National Park Service, the business community, and the larger community to keep alive the lessons of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and to make known in our region the unheralded, heroic work of bringing justice to fruition in contemporary society.
Our mission is to recognize, honor, and perpetuate the commitment to social justice and human rights of an individual and/or organization whose work is proven to have alleviated discrimination and promoted tolerance of any kind. The Salem Award, established in 1992 as a permanent program, is awarded annually by the Salem Award Foundation.
The Salem Award Committee (member listing)
The Salem Award Logo
On July 25, 1990, the Salem Witch Trials Tercentenary Committee announced Sarah H. Bennett of Leicester, Massachusetts as the winner of its logo competition. Bennett's design is an image of a face from a grave marker in the Old North Cemetery in Wayland, Massachusetts. At the award presentation, Bennett said:
I think of this face not as death but rather as witness—a witness to the hysteria that fuels such events as the Salem Witch Trials.
The image represents a commitment to human rights and due process in the face of the panics that afflict our own lives.
The Salem Witch Trials Memorial
Designed by artist/architect team Maggie Smith and James Cutler of Bainbridge Island, Washington, the Salem Witch Trials Memorial is a reminder of the lessons of tolerance and understanding learned from the Salem Witch Trials. The design incorporates multiple elements of stone and plantings to symbolically represent the social indifference to the persecutions that took place in Salem in 1692.
Striking in its simplicity, the memorial is surrounded on three sides by a handcrafted granite dry wall. Inscribed in the stone threshold entering the memorial are the victims' protests of innocence. These protests are interrupted mid-sentence by the wall, symbolizing society's indifference to oppression. Six locust trees, the last to flower and the first to lose their leaves, represent the stark injustice of the trials. At the rear of the memorial, visitors view the tombstones of the adjacent 17th century Charter Street Burying Point, a reminder of all who stood in mute witness to the hysteria. Cantilevered stone benches within the memorial perimeter bear the names and execution dates of each of the twenty victims, creating a quiet, contemplative environment in which to evoke the spirit and strength of those people who chose to die rather than compromise their personal truths.
The Salem Witch Trials Tercentenary Committee was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for the memorial project. The design has received national critical acclaim. Dedicated on August 5, 1992 with Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, the memorial serves as an enduring tribute to the victims of the Salem Witch Trials and as a reminder that among all people and nations a spirit of tolerance and understanding should prevail.
In 1692, in Salem, then part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, hundreds of people were accused of practicing witchcraft, defined by the court at the time as a crime. From June 10 to September 22, nineteen people were convicted and hanged for that crime and one was crushed by stone for refusing to follow court procedure; they were victims of fear, superstition, and a court system that failed to protect them. Since that time, the Salem Witch Trials have continued to intrigue and inspire historians, writers, and experts in professional fields such as law and medicine. Advocates of civil rights and human tolerance use the events of 1692 as a yardstick to measure the depth of civility and due process in contemporary society.