City Council votes to rename controversial Taney Street after Philadelphia educator and civil rights advocate Caroline LeCount

Philadelphia lawmakers voted Thursday to rename Taney Street, bringing to an end years of activism over the street named for a late Supreme Court justice responsible for upholding slavery and denying citizenship to Black people.

City Council members voted to name the strip of blocks that runs through parts of North Philadelphia, South Philadelphia, and Fairmount after Caroline LeCount, a Black educator and civil rights advocate who fought streetcar segregation in the 1860s. If the bill is signed by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, the street will become the first in the city named for a Black woman.

Activists have for years pushed the city to rename the street, which honors former Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, who is best known for authoring the opinion in the 1857 Dred Scott case. Taney wrote in the court’s majority opinion that Black people “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect,” denying them citizenship.

The same court under Taney’s leadership declared the 1820 Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, thereby upholding slavery as legal.

City Council President Kenyatta Johnson said Thursday that the change is long overdue and that lawmakers are “right[ing] a wrong.” City Councilmember Jeffery Young Jr., who introduced the legislation to make the change, said it was especially moving because he lived on Taney Street for part of his upbringing.

Now, he said, Philadelphians can look up at the street signs and see that the road is named after LeCount, “someone they can be proud of.”

» READ MORE: The name change was supported by 90% of residents on the street

Tyrique Glasgow, an anti-violence activist who founded the Young Chances Foundation, has advocated for the change and said Thursday that he’s proud the street will now be named after LeCount, a leading civil rights activist of her time whom he referred to as “our Philadelphia Rosa Parks.”

“This is not about yesterday. It’s about our tomorrow,” he said. “And we have an opportunity to change how our next generation of leaders and youth feel about being equal in our city.”

Two of Taney’s descendants were in Council’s chambers Thursday to support the change. Joy Taney, who lives in Philadelphia and has been part of the effort to rename the street for years, said there is no evidence her ancestor has any significant connection to the city, and she referred to him as “one of the great American dehumanizers.”

She said she feels shame when she sees the street name and “can’t even begin to imagine how Taney Street must make our Black Philadelphians feel.”

“The actions we can take in Philadelphia by changing the name of Taney Street to LeCount Street,” Taney said, “can turn the tides on the psychological and social impact that this street name has caused.”

If Parker signs the bill, the new street signage could be posted early next year.