Parks renaming exhibit celebrates Black History Month

NYC Parks Department is highlighting nearly two years of renaming efforts with a Black History Month exhibit.

Photo via Daniel Aviles/Parks

By Rachel Vick

The New York City Parks Department is marking Black History month with an exhibit highlighting the spaces renamed for influential Black New Yorkers.

“The NYC Parks Renaming Project: Celebrating Black Leaders,” on view through Feb. 28, features renamed spaces and the history of the legendary figures they’re named after.

“This year’s Black History Month exhibition is a moving retrospective of our renewed effort to incorporate Black history into the fabric of our city,” said NYC Parks Acting Commissioner Liam Kavanagh. “With archival and recent photographs of more than a dozen newly named park spaces, the show helps to preserve the legacy of these influential people and places.”

Alongside the effort beginning in June 2020 to acknowledge the impact of Black residents, the exhibit is part of the “work to make the park system more diverse and reflective of the people it serves.”

Among the 28 renamings highlighted in the installation at The Arsenal Gallery in Central Park is the Malcolm X Promenade in Flushing Meadows Corona Park — formerly the Flushing Bay Promenade — named for the civil rights leader who lived in East Elmhurst during the last years of his life.

Other Queens sites that have been renamed include the in-progress Gwen Ifill Park and the Musician’s Oval in St. Albans to honor the creative greats who lived in Addisleigh Park.

The exhibition is presented by NYC Parks’ Art & Antiquities and Ebony Society, which was founded in 1985 to unify NYC Parks' African American community, increase visibility, and recognize those who make outstanding contributions to the parks and their communities.

Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., and admission is free.