New Brunswick government asked to remove ‘Negro’ from place names in province

SAINT JOHN, N.B. – Name changes are being proposed for two places near New Brunswick’s largest city as part of a province-wide plan to update the use of the anachronistic word Negro.

Ralph Thomas, president of Saint John-based group Pride of Race, Unity and Dignity through Education, said alternatives are being proposed for Negro Point Breakwater in west Saint John and for Negro Head in the nearby village of Lorneville.

Thomas is working as part of a research project with the New Brunswick Black History Society and the province to identify areas for potential name changes.

“What we have found in our study is that a lot of people are still using the negative word, the N-word, and that’s what we are trying to get away from,” said Thomas.

He said under the proposal Negro Point would become Hodges Point, to honour a prominent black loyalist family, and Negro Head would become Lorneville Head.

Thomas said it’s not known exactly how both places got their names, although in the case of Negro Head — a headland near Barbours Point — oral history suggests there was once a burial site there for black settlers who arrived around 1815. As a result, he said, perhaps some kind of memorial would be fitting in order to explain the name change.

Thomas said both the city of Saint John and the community in Lorneville are on board with the change, which has to be approved by the province. He said it’s important to do it in a way that honours black heritage in the area.

“They are very cooperative in saying that if we can change them to show that there was a black community . . . then great,” he said.

Last spring Negro Brook Road in South Branch near Sussex, N.B., was renamed Harriet O’Ree Road by the province, which announced plans to find new names for eight provincial sites. O’Ree was a black woman who had lived on the road according to an 1861 census.

In an email, the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture said it has spent $100,000 to support the project’s activities, including public awareness.

“Black New Brunswickers have made many important contributions to our province throughout its history. We want to ensure geographical places related to black history have appropriate names.”

The department said black contributions are significant to the province’s history.

“This project will result in increased awareness and, more importantly, make these stories accessible to current and future generations in our province,” the department said.

Thomas said the research to date has not turned up any other names aside from the eight sites targeted by the New Brunswick initiative.

A similar project was announced by the Quebec government in 2015, ordering name changes for 11 sites containing the word Negro in English or French.

— By Keith Doucette in Halifax.