North Shore park drops name of 19th-century scientist who promoted racist beliefs
“Maintaining the Agassiz name on this property would run counter to our goals of inclusion and acceptance."
A North Shore park has a new name after the Trustees of Reservations decided to drop its historical association with a 19th-century biologist who promoted racist views, the preservation organization said Monday.
Agassiz Rock in Manchester-by-the-Sea will now be known as The Monoliths, a reference to the massive boulders located on the site, the Trustees of Reservations said in a statement. The park was originally named after Louis Agassiz, known for his groundbreaking theory that the rocks scattered across New England were left by glaciers and not by Noah’s Ark, the statement said.
But Agassiz was also known as a proponent of polygenism — the belief that people with different skin colors have different origins and that people who are not white are inherently inferior, the statement said.
“The mission of The Trustees is to preserve, for public use and enjoyment, properties of exceptional scenic, historic, and ecological value in Massachusetts for all people regardless of race or skin color,” Janelle Woods-McNish, managing director of community impact for the Trustees, said in the statement.
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