Dudley Square In Roxbury To Be Re-Named Nubian Square
ROXBURY (CBS/AP) – Dudley Square is about to become Nubian Square. Boston's Public Improvement Commission voted Thursday to approve the name change, just a month after it was rejected in a citywide vote.
A ballot referendum on the idea failed in November, but the vote tally showed that residents in Roxbury, where the name change was proposed, overwhelmingly favored it.
Mayor Marty Walsh's office said 1,986 Roxbury residents voted in favor of the non-binding referendum to 957 against in November. The ballot question failed citywide, with 46% in favor and 54% against.
But, the Nubian Square Coalition officially petitioned the Public Improvement Commission for the name change and it was approved in a vote Thursday morning.
A spokesperson for Walsh told WBZ-TV the change will happen effective immediately, but it will only be made in the street book which can be found online. There are curently no official signs in the square, so the City does not need to change anything above ground.
Supporters argued the commercial center should be renamed because Roxbury resident Thomas Dudley was a leading politician when Massachusetts legally sanctioned slavery in the 1600s.
"We feel that from our perspective, we need to have a name that's reflective of our culture and gives a signal of opportunity for our young people," one resident told WBZ-TV.
But opponents countered that slavery was also part of the ancient Nubian empire, which ruled over swaths of modern-day Egypt and Sudan thousands of years ago.
Roxbury is the neighborhood where a young Martin Luther King, Jr. preached and Malcolm X grew up.
It remains a center of the state's African-American community. More than 50% of its roughly 60,000 residents are black, according to census data.
Boston has debated a number of name changes in recent years as the city reconciles with its slavery ties and racist past.
Last year, the Red Sox successfully petitioned to change the name of Yawkey Way near Fenway Park back to the original Jersey Street. Under longtime team owner Tom Yawkey, the Red Sox were the last Major League Baseball franchise to integrate.
Other groups have also been calling for years for the city to rename Faneuil Hall, the downtown landmark built by Peter Faneuil, a wealthy 18th-century slave owner.
They've suggested the famous hall — where leading colonists debated independence from England — be named after Crispus Attucks, a black man killed during the Boston Massacre. Attucks is considered the first casualty of the American Revolution.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
