BOSTON (WHDH) - Protesters gathered at Faneuil Hall on Saturday to demand Boston rename the building because of its namesake’s slave-trading roots.
The hall was named after merchant Peter Faneuil, who gifted the building to the city in the mid-1700s. But Faneuil traded and owned slaves, according to the National Park Service, and demonstrators are calling on Mayor Marty Walsh to hold a meeting about changing the landmark’s name.
“We believe … that the name of a slave owner should not be attached to a publicly owned building, but more than that we believe that by talking about renaming Faneuil Hall we can have an extended conversation about structural racism in the city,” said Kevin Peterson, founder of the New Democracy Coalition.
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