Jacob Morris (born 1947) is a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

activist and local historian responsible for many street renamings. He is the head of the Harlem Historical Society and the New York Freedom Trail, an organization which seeks to establish an official government tour of sites connected to the fight against slavery.

Historical activism

Since 2006, Morris has worked diligently to rename and co-name streets after accomplished Black New Yorkers, including

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for h ...

Ella Baker Ella Josephine Baker (December 13, 1903 – December 13, 1986) was an African-American civil rights and human rights activist. She was a largely behind-the-scenes organizer whose career spanned more than five decades. In New York City and ...

Thurgood Marshall Thoroughgood "Thurgood" Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme C ...

Ida B. Wells Ida Bell Wells-Barnett (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931) was an American investigative journalist, sociologist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advance ...

, W.E.B. DuBois,

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop ...

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was the most impor ...

, Susan Smith McKinney,

Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American writer, anthropologist, folklorist, and documentary filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-20th-century American South and published research on Hoodoo ...

A'Lelia Walker A'Lelia Walker (born Lelia McWilliams; June 6, 1885 – August 17, 1931) was an American businesswoman and patron of the arts. She was the only surviving child of Madam C. J. Walker, who was popularly credited as being the first self-made fem ...

, and

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

. He told the

New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...

, "Basically, you know, blacks have been living on streets named after famous white persons for 400 years, maybe a little more. So, you know, why not have white people live on streets named after famous black people who did so much to contribute to American history?" The ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote that he showed "nonstop zeal" to advance these projects through the local system of community boards. Many of naming efforts have been related to Black women. He also claimed to have a sense of urgency given gentrification in black neighborhoods such as

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

. He also advocates on other issues related to public history in New York City. Scholar

David Levering Lewis David Levering Lewis (born May 25, 1936) is an American historian, a Julius Silver University Professor, and professor emeritus of history at New York University. He is twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography, for part o ...

told the New York Times, “Almost every month Jacob finds a reason to be agitated, excited, outraged and militant, and usually he’s quite right in his concerns.” A primary task, given an interest in the Underground Railroad, is to establish a "Freedom Trail" that would mark key places related to the fight against slavery --

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

sites and sites links to

abolitionists Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was France in 1315, but it was later used in its colonies. T ...

. This effort would be inspired by the successful

Freedom Trail The Freedom Trail is a path through Boston that passes by 16 locations significant to the history of the United States. It winds from Boston Common in downtown Boston, to the Old North Church in the North End and the Bunker Hill Monument i ...

in Boston that is connected to the Revolutionary War. Many of these proposed sites, such as the home of David Ruggles at 36 Lispenard Street and the place where

Elizabeth Jennings Graham Elizabeth Jennings Graham (March 1827 – June 5, 1901) was an African-American teacher and civil rights figure. In 1854, Graham insisted on her right to ride on an available New York City streetcar at a time when all such companies were privat ...

was thrown off a street car, are in

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...

. Morris said that the trail plan "tells the truth about where we come from and the path we've taken to get to where we are today. We need to know this stuff: the adversity, the things that were surmounted." Council member Ydanis Rodriguez introduced City Council legislation for a taskforce to study the matter, and the plan received support from Community Board 1 under

Julie Menin Julie Menin (born October 6, 1967) is a member of the New York City Council from District 5. Before she was elected to this position, she served as an American attorney, civil servant, non-profit executive, professor and small business owner. In ...

. In 2006, he worked with Roger Green, an activist from Crown Heights, to co-name a stretch of

Duffield Street Abolitionist Place is an alternative name for a section of Duffield Street in Brooklyn, New York City, which was a significant site of Abolitionism, abolitionist activity in the 19th century. Abolitionists Harriet and Thomas Truesdell lived at ...

, near where Abolitionist Place. In 2019, while opposing the treatment by

New York City Economic Development Corporation New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) is a public-benefit corporation that serves as the official economic development organization for New York City. NYCEDC gives its mission as strengthening business confidence in New York C ...

for a memorial to abolitionism, he led efforts to rename the proposed park, Willoughby Square, to Abolitionist Place Park., and the plan received support from Community Board 1 under

. Morris also opposed some of the projects of the administration of Mayor

Bill de Blasio Bill de Blasio (; born Warren Wilhelm Jr., May 8, 1961; later Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm) is an American politician who was the List of mayors of New York City, 109th mayor of New York City, mayor of New York City from 2014 to 2021. A member of t ...

related to monuments. He opposed public funding for the

Women's Rights Pioneers Monument The ''Women's Rights Pioneers Monument'' is a sculpture by Meredith Bergmann. It was installed in Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, on August 26 (Women's Equality Day), 2020. The sculpture is located at the northwest corner of Literary Walk ...

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

before it was changed to include

Sojourner Truth Sojourner Truth (; born Isabella Bomefree; November 26, 1883) was an American Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist and activist for African-American civil rights, women's rights, and Temperance movement, alcohol temperance. Truth was ...

. Even then, he wrote a letter to make sure the addition would be historically accurate and appropriate. He also criticized the de Blasio administration for the placement of some its announced monuments, including for

, and the family of Albro Lyons and Mary Lyons. Another goal of Morris is to name a street after Maya Angelou.

Family history

Morris was born in 1947 in

Astoria, Queens Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to four other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City, Queens, Long Island C ...

. His family was Jewish Greek. The ''New York Times'' reported that almost all of his family was killed in the Holocaust due to the Nazi occupation of Greece. In the 1970s, Morris worked in real estate and owned different properties in

SoHo SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

, including a video rental chain called "Rare Bird." His tenants implemented a rent strike, forcing him in the 1990s to declare bankruptcy. While his son Lincoln was in school, Morris started to get involved in politics when he learned that New York City public schools did not have to include in their reports the scores of students assigned as learning disabled.

References

External links

New York City Freedom Trail
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Jacob Activists from New York City 1947 births Living people