Street in Raleigh’s Five Points neighborhood no longer named after white supremacist
A Five Points neighborhood street will no longer be named after a former North Carolina governor and white supremacist.
The Raleigh City Council voted to change Aycock Street to Roanoke Park Drive after neighbors petitioned the city to change the street’s name.
The vote to rename the street, which stretches from Glenwood Avenue and Reaves Drive, was unanimous Tuesday night.
“After George Floyd’s murder we started working on this initiative of renaming Aycock Street with our neighbors,” said Anna Bickley, who lives on the Street. “Removing a naming honor is a start to larger more significant racial equity changes.”
There are more substantial racial equity efforts in Raleigh that need to occur, but those efforts do not have to occur in a vacuum, she said.
“As we have talked to neighbors no one thinks Charles Aycock should have a street name after him,” Bickley said. “Though there are different viewpoints on the administrative hassle of an address name or the impact this change will have on our overall goal of making our community more inclusive.”
Residents say Aycock Street is named after former Gov. Charles Aycock, who was one of the perpetrators of the Wilmington Massacre in 1898. White people rioted in Wilmington at the urging of Aycock and others, including former News & Observer publisher Josephus Daniels. The mob murdered at least 60 Black residents, burned a Black-owned newspaper and forced thousands of other Black residents out of their homes.
The city doesn’t keep records of street name origins.
“While a street change is not the top priority for those desiring greater racial equity, nor should it be, it is, however, one step of many steps we would like to see Raleigh take to continue the dialogue to move toward a more equitable future,” said Steve Mangano, who lives on Aycock.
Harold Bunn, who lives on Aycock Street, asked the council to delay their decision until a vote could be taken by all residents and for the city to review all street names with the same lens as the Aycock Street request.
“More of these requests are coming,” said Council member David Knight, who represents the Five Points area. “I think we need to look at street name changes for historical, racial and social justice reasons in a comprehensive manner through the appropriate racial and social justice lens.”
In the aftermath of Floyd’s death, several institutions began changing names associated with white supremacists. The UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees removed Aycock and Daniels monikers from its residence halls.
The last time residents asked the city to change a street name was in 2014.
