West Hartford Town Council Approves Procedure for Honorary and Historic Renaming of Public Streets

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Kingswood Oxford student Regina Miller advocates for renaming New Street to honor Peleg Nott, a former enslaved man from West Hartford. Photo credit: Ronni Newton.

By Sophie Christensen on We-Ha.com on June 9, 2021

In a January Letter to the Editor, Aliza Sadiq and Regina Miller (two Kingswood Oxford students) asked the West Hartford Town Council to rename New Street in Blue Back Square. They wish to honor Peleg Nott, who had been enslaved in West Hartford but according to research was an extraordinary man eventually elected to the honorable position of “Black governor.”

After their research for the Witness Stones Project, Aliza and Regina discovered shocking truths about the history of slavery in town. There were about “70 people enslaved in West Hartford alone, which is double the number we thought it was four years ago,” they said in the letter. Continue reading.