PINKNEY NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

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Town Hall Meeting on our Neighborhood Name – October 15th at 7pm via Zoom

The Pinckney Neighborhood Association stands with those seeking to end systemic racism. We join the KU and greater Lawrence communities in reiterating that Black Lives Matter.

One way to fulfill this commitment is to reconsider the name of our neighborhood. The Pinckney Neighborhood bears the former name of 6th Street. Until 1912, 6th Street was named Pinckney Street — although this was not likely the original spelling. Early records from the abolitionist town founders of Lawrence point to the street being named for William Pinkney, the author of an influential anti-slavery document. However, in the late 1800s, maps and newspapers began to use the spelling “Pinckney” (with a ‘c’), and by the 1920s for reasons that are still unclear, Lawrence school authorities were formally claiming that the school was named for Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. And so, in circular fashion, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney is now associated with the neighborhood.

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney has no connection to the City of Lawrence or even to the state of Kansas. While he was a Revolutionary War general and a signer of the Constitution, he was also a South Carolina plantation slave-owner who cowrote the Fugitive Slaves Clause. Our neighborhood being associated with someone so profoundly tied to slavery and racism is troubling. Thus, the Neighborhood Association has formed a committee to assess interest in changing the name of our neighborhood. Note: This effort is independent of the elementary school. The Lawrence School Board and USD 497 leadership are conducting their own review of the school’s name.

Learn more by visiting our webpage at http://www.pinckneyneighborhood.org/reconsidering-our-neighborhood-name/.

We want YOUR input! Your opinion matters.

Are you in favor of changing the name of our neighborhood?  Why or why not? Please submit your response before October 15th by:

-emailing us at pinckney.neighborhood@gmail.com OR

-voicing your opinion within our neighborhood Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/117029931007/) OR

-mailing a letter to: Pinckney Neighborhood Association, PO Box 125, Lawrence, KS 66044 OR

-calling us at 785-864-2380 (Eleanor Gardner; Neighborhood Coordinator)

 

 

 

 

➤ And join us for a Zoom Town Hall Meeting on this topic on Thursday, October 15, at 7pm! 

Zoom Meeting link: http://bit.ly/ZoomTownHall

password: 2020

 

September 24, 2020 · Eleanor Gardner · No Comments
Posted in: Announcements

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• Changing our Neighborhood Name

  Our neighborhood name of “Pinckney” was recently changed to “Pinkney.” This change occurred because Pinckney with a ‘c’ was associated with Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, a Revolutionary War general who signed the Constitution and who also was a slaveholder who believed slavery was fundamental to the American way of life (he owned a large plantation in South Carolina). Given this problematic history, neighborhood residents voted to change our neighborhood name. To learn more about the year-long process, go to our dedicated webpage. The final round of voting ultimately landed on the name of “Pinkney” in honor of William Pinkney, who gave a famous anti-slavery speech in 1789.