NEW ORLEANS — The City Council on Thursday voted 7-0 to rename Jefferson Davis Parkway.
The avenue that runs from Mid-City to the edge of Uptown will now honor Norman Francis, the longtime president of Xavier University and a civil rights pioneer.
Davis was the lone president of the Confederacy. The street’s name was changed from Hagan Avenue to honor him in 1910.
“He is not just a figure of this city,” said City Council President Jason Williams. “He is a statesman of this country and of this world.”
Williams led the push for the name change with Council Vice President Helena Moreno and Mark Raymond, a member of the new Street Renaming Commission.
“I am most grateful that the city of New Orleans has named a street in my honor, particularly one that borders Xavier University, an institution that I have called home for more than a half-century,” Francis said in a prepared statement. “I am truly honored and humbled by this recognition.”
The change from Jefferson Davis to Norman Francis will take effect early next year after the U.S. Census is done and mail-in voting has ended.
More streets and public places could be renamed in the near future.
Researchers from the New Orleans Public Library on Wednesday submitted to the Street Renaming Commission a list of 25 streets and three parks that could be renamed since they honor white supremacists or Confederates.
Some of the most prominent streets and places being discussed are:
Beauregard Avenue, Calhoun Street, General Meyer Avenue, Governor Nicholls Street, Palmer Park, Robert E. Lee Boulevard and Tulane Avenue.
“I've heard the noise. I get the nasty emails. I get the calls,” said District B City Councilman Jay Banks. “This is not an attempt to rewrite history … We're writing history the way it should be.”
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