The Town of Carrboro will consider changing its namesake at its town council meeting Tuesday night to effectively sever ties with its history of white supremacy.
Originally known as West End, due to its geographic location directly west of Chapel Hill, the town was first renamed in 1911 and then again in 1913. The final name change came after Julian Shakespeare Carr, owner of the local textile mill, agreed to provide electricity to the community in exchange for naming the town after himself.
During the late 1960s, Carrboro began to become more progressive in its thinking, earning a reputation as one of the more progressive communities in the South. Yet, despite the town’s progressive ideals, Carrboro’s namesake is rarely referenced due to its ties to white supremacy.
According to the town’s website, “Although the town continues to bear his name, the values and actions of Carr do not represent Carrboro today.”
A confederate soldier himself, Julian Carr was the largest single donor to the Silent Sam monument to Confederate alumni on UNC’s campus. At its dedication in 1913, Carr addressed the crowd, urging vigorous support for white supremacy.
Although many residents have called for the town to completely change its name due to its racist history, Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle said there are several legal and financial difficulties that stem from changing the physical name of a town – which is why Carrboro is considering changing the namesake instead.
“We had a resident who came to us, I believe in June at one of our last meetings, and she really urged us to kind of explore that idea – recognizing the challenge of changing the name of a town,” Lavelle said. “So we’ve explored this idea of ‘can we have a new namesake?’ and she came to us with the names of several folks with the last name Carr.”
Lavelle said the council had originally referred this idea to the town’s Truth Plaque Committee to discuss and eventually move forward.
Back in April of 2019, the committee a posted a historical marker, or ‘truth plaque’, on the front of Carrboro’s Town Hall. This plaque includes the early history of Carrboro around the turn of the 20th century and talks about the town’s namesake, Julian S. Carr – noting Carr’s ties to racial segregation.
“They met and talked and decided that they wanted to kick it back to us to have Town council have that discussion,” Lavelle said. “Then if we decide that we want to name it after another namesake, or we want their input after we discuss it, then they’ll take it up again.”
Lavelle said she is interested to hear what the town council has to say at their meeting. If the council does decide they want to change the town’s namesake, she already has some ideas.
“A few years ago I suggested we rename ourselves after Johnnie Carr,” Lavelle said. “She’s a Civil Rights activist that isn’t as well known – but she was very active with Dr. Martin Luther King and others. Also she was born in 1911, which was the same year we were incorporated.”
To check out Carrboro’s Town Council agenda ahead of its meeting Tuesday night, click here.
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Julian Carr did a lot of things. Some of them were terrible. Some of them were essential in the early years of this town. I go in one of them at least once a week. Hate, scorn, but he was here. Are we trying to pretend he wasn’t?
I’m sorry, I just don’t understand this ‘namesake” concept. Finding an admirable person who happens to have the same last name, but no connection to the town? We have to import good people from Alabama? It sounds like we’re playing ‘let’s pretend.’ Both Carrs deserve better than that.
There is absolutely NO reason to change our history or try to “whitewash” it. It is what it is and if you’re not happy with it, MOVE! They’re changing my neighborhood name, trying to change the name of the town, trying to erase our history. It doesn’t change the present or the past, it just shows what a radical bunch of leftist liberals this town has been infiltrated with. If you want to change something, change yourselves. Spend your time helping the community. Be kind and friendly. Speak to your neighbors, wave to strangers you pass, be the small town inhabitant that Carrboroians USED to be. Don’t come here and try to make it the place you left. If that’s what you want… go back. We were fine before you arrived..
I agree. Trying to rewrite history will not undo what was already done. Instead, leave it and use it as a teachable moment and to show how far we’ve come and where we will be going. Future generations should not be robbed of history because of political agenda.
I totally agree with Lakestalker…..LEAVE MY TOWN AND ITS NAME ALONE….IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE NAME OF OUR TOWN AND THE HISTORY BEHIND IT…THEN MOVE…..BTW…..history means the past….we live in the present….you can’t change the past…….
This name change foolishness is just virtue signaling. Of course Carrboro is big on making sure everyone knows how hip Carrboro is.
The truth is, Carrboro is a poorly run little town that pretends to be righteous and “woke”, but it’s a facade. I was in a bar one night in Carrboro a few years ago and a black buddy of mine was treated to some really ugly disrespect because he told some of the posers in the bar that he had spent his career in the military. I have very strong disdain for the posers who make up the bulk of the Carrboro population, because I KNOW WHAT THEY REALLY ARE, which is a bunch of virtue-signaling Prius-driving poser pricks.
(editor’s note: our comments are individually and manually approved/moderated, and sometimes folks get impatient. This comment has also been mildly censored for profanity.)
Of course you c*nts are not going to publish my comment, because you’re the same sort of c*nts who live in Carrboro.
I agree leave the name alone. I thought the article said most people wanted to change it. Everyone on here says opposite. Why is that ?
Obviously a representative sample! /s
The words of the man that Carrboro was named after:
“One hundred yards from where we stand, less than ninety days perhaps after my return from Appomattox, I horse-whipped a negro wench until her skirts hung in shreds, because upon the streets of this quiet village she had publicly insulted and maligned a Southern lady, and then rushed for protection to these University buildings where was stationed a garrison of 100 Federal soldiers. I performed the pleasing duty in the immediate presence of the entire garrison”
You cannot change history, but no one really needs to know this windbag ever even existed.
David Parker, there are only 9 comments on this post, yet the population of Carrboro is over 21,000. I know math can be difficult for some people, but this shouldn’t be too hard to understand. Or maybe it is? 🤦♂️