In celebration of Black History Month, NYC Parks will host a virtual panel focused on the ongoing effort to name park spaces in honor of the Black experience. NYC Parks Presents Honoring Black History: The Parks Naming Project will take place on Wednesday, February 24th from 6:00-7:00pm.
NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP, will moderate the virtual panel discussing the agency’s work to incorporate Black history into the fabric of our city and make the park system more diverse and reflective of the communities it serves.
The panel, Honoring Black History: The Parks Naming Project, will feature Commissioner Silver in conversation with:
Kevin C. (K.C.) Matthews, Chief of Staff and interim co-director at NYPL’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
John Reddick, Harlem historian and architectural preservationist
Marjol Rush-Collet, Director of the Langston Hughes Family Museum and Hughes relative
Daniel Baldwin, artist and James Baldwin relative
Sylvia D’Alessandro, Executive Director, Sandy Ground Historical Society and Museum and descendant of community founders.
Sign up for the panel discussion online: https://bit.ly/2MvgkLw
Commissioner Silver announced NYC Parks’ naming effort on June 19, 2020 with the creation of Juneteenth Grove in Cadman Plaza Park. In honor of the 51st anniversary of Black Solidarity Day on November 2, 2020, the agency announced the first tranche of namings for prominent Black Americans in an effort to foster effective and equitable changes within the City’s parks system. This month, Parks named the Central Park loop for runner Ted Corbitt and announced the beginning of the next phase of namings, where New Yorkers have an opportunity to submit name recommendations on our website.
The event is free, but registration is required to attend. Please register here. Participants will receive a link to join.