To the Editor, 

At this time of reckoning with the history of racism in Princeton, including the renaming of the former John Witherspoon Middle School in light of Witherspoon’s enslavement of African Americans and opposition to abolition [“A ‘Teachable Moment’ as Princeton Works to Rename Middle School,” page 1, November 18], I urge consideration of renaming Witherspoon Street to “Robeson Street.”

The name would be especially fitting as “Robeson Street” would run past the historic Robeson House, the Paul Robeson sculpture in front of the Arts Council, and alongside Princeton’s historic African American neighborhood (and alongside Palmer Square, the original construction of which displaced Princeton’s African American residents).

“Robeson Street” would intersect and complement the existing Paul Robeson Place. Black Lives Matter and names matter — it’s time to do the right thing.

Shannon Daley-Harris
Dorann Avenue