Jayson Massey

November 2, 2023

Dr. Donald Guy Generals, President of Community College of Philadelphia, is hosting a Fireside Chat to talk about the campaign to rename Taney Street.  The street’s namesake, Roger B. Taney, was Chief Supreme Court Justice from 1836 until 1864.  His opinion in the Dred Scott case was not only racist and lacked judicial reasoning but may have stoked the fire for the Civil War four years later: a war that cost at least 620,000 lives.   

Taney’s opinion stated the following: people of African descent cannot and were never intended to be American citizens, therefore Scott, the plaintiff is without standing to file a lawsuit; congress cannot ban slavery in the territories, so the Missouri Compromise is unconstitutional; and the Fifth Amendment prohibits the federal government from freeing slaves brought into federal territories.

The efforts to remove Taney’s name have intensified since George Floyd’s murder.  The process to change the street name is very involved and includes passing a bill in City Council to eliminate the current name and choosing a replacement name. Worse still, Taney Street runs irregularly through different neighborhoods and City Council districts, making consensus tougher to garner. 

Please join President Generals for this fireside chat and find out what you can do to help move this effort forward. 

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