These 3 New Orleans parks, 1 street to get renamed after council vote; Fats Domino among new names

A year after announcing its plan to rename parks and streets honoring the Confederacy and segregation, the New Orleans City Council voted to change the name of three parks and one street Thursday in a process that is expected to stretch through the next several months.

Council members voted unanimously to make the first of what are expected to be dozens of name changes. The vote comes a little more than a year after the murder of George Floyd sparked protests and discussion around policing, systemic racism and how statues, streets and other symbols should be changed to reflect current values.

Washington Artillery Park on Decatur Street, which overlooks Jackson Square and was named for a Confederate military unit, will now be named after Louisiana Lt. Gov. Oscar Dunn, the first Black elected lieutenant governor in the U.S. during Reconstruction.

In Algiers, Behrman Park, named after a segregationist mayor of New Orleans, will be changed to Morris F.X. Jeff Sr. Park to honor the Black New Orleans social worker who pioneered recreational programs for Black youth.

Read more: https://www.nola.com/news/communities/article_8cc6a43c-da7c-11eb-98e7-831b9039ba7e.html