Meet Tyrique Glasgow, the uncle of Ahmaj. Both came to the Philadelphia City Council's Streets and Services Committee meeting. They represented the Young Chances Foundation, one of the members of the Rename Taney Coalition. Ahmaj gave a speech--which he had committed to memory--describing how much he wanted the name of his street to be changed to LeCount Street.
Joy Taney, a descendent of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, represented the Taney family and testified about the family's support for the change.
This is the full text of remarks delivered to Philadelphia City Council on October 28 in support of Bill No. 240931--"Renaming Taney Street to "LeCount Street."
"Good morning. My name is Fasaha Traylor—coauthor of the book, They Carried Us: The Social Impact of Philadelphia’s Black Women Leaders, published in 2020. Caroline LeCount was one of the 95 Black women we profiled in our book, and I congratulate Council for moving forward with changing the name of Taney Street to LeCount St. That is certainly important.
I also want to encourage you not to think of this as a routine endpoint, just a street sign, or the end of Council's involvement. As our country prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and Philadelphia250 shines a spotlight on the meaning of the Declaration to Philadelphia, Council should consider showcasing how the renaming of Taney St. fits into our country’s long, hard—yet still unfinished journey from white supremacy to equality.
This act by Council is something we can all be proud of and claim as a meaningful part of our civic legacy. Council could help us integrate the thinking embodied in the name change to our inheritance of equality. Council could:
Issue a proclamation written by a leading Philadelphia historian entitled “Why Taney St. Disappeared.” This document could be distributed to all Philadelphia high schools and focus on how Justice Roger B. Taney’s belief in segregation and white supremacy set our country back and put us on the path to the Civil War.
Issue a call for students to develop essays or visual arts pieces about the life of Caroline LeCount. Essays and visual art could focus on her staunch belief in human equality and her actions to bring that belief into being. Philadelphians should know about her decades-long commitment to educating Black students in Philadelphia’s segregated schools and advocating for the Black teachers who bore the burden of teaching them within a segregated system.
Organize a Council Hearing, possibly televised by WHYY, linking Caroline LeCount’s activism to desegregate street cars in Philadelphia with the community activism led by Rename Taney. Joining hands across many decades of the city's history, both Caroline LeCount’s and Rename Taney’s efforts are examples of how community activism can help move our country forward.
Far be it from me to suggest how these efforts might be accomplished, but here are a few ideas:
The Education Committee and Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Affairs could work together on a plan to bring ideas like these to life.
These or other committees could seek to collaborate with Philadelphia250 to highlight how the street-name change fits in the long march to the equality articulated in the Declaration.
Councilmembers from the three districts whose assent was required could, along with folks from the Rename Taney Coalition, form a kind of “speaker’s bureau” to inform all Philadelphians about the importance of taking this action and how relevant it is to Philadelphia250.
Thank you, and congratulations for moving this important change along.
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