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Roxbury Library renamed for city’s first Black woman TV reporter
"Hopefully, future generations will want to learn about her life and the values she held dear.”
The Roxbury Branch of the Boston Public Library will be renamed to honor the first Black woman television news reporter in the city of Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu announced Monday.
The Trustees of the Boston Public Library overwhelmingly approved the name change last week to honor Sarah-Ann Shaw, a lifelong Roxbury resident who worked at WBZ-TV from 1969 to 2000. She died last year at age 90.
“As a Roxbury native, and a BPS graduate she would be pleased and humbled by this honor. Mom was committed to this branch,” said Klare Shaw, Sarah-Ann’s daughter. “We are thankful to everyone who appreciated and loved her, and advocated for this moment. Hopefully, future generations will want to learn about her life and the values she held dear.”
The library was previously called the Dudley Branch, the former name of Nubian Square. When the square was renamed to Nubian Square in 2019, the BPL chose to call the library the Roxbury Branch.
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Last year, Boston City Council supported a resolution to rename the library the Nubian Branch. All Boston Public Library branches are named after the square where they are located, the resolution said, with the exception of the Roxbury Library.
Now, the branch will be called the Shaw-Roxbury Branch Library at Nubian Square, Wu announced.
Twelve of the 15 BPL Board of Trustees voted in favor of the change, according to the city. The proposal will go before Wu and the Public Facilities Commission for final approval, the city said. The commission is expected to vote on July 2.
“The Mayor looks forward to lifting up the legacy of Boston’s first black television news reporter, giant in journalism, and former member of the Friends of the Roxbury Branch Library,” Wu’s Chief of Operations Dion Irish wrote to BPL President David Leonard.
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The BPL Board of Trustees only received one letter in opposition to the library name change. Sadiki Kambon with the Nubian Square Coalition argued for the Nubian Library name, adding that Shaw as well as other late civil rights and community leaders could be honored inside the library.
“It is our understanding there is an insulting effort condoned by his office to present the Shaw Library name as an alternative option to camouflage their intent to sabotage what is rightfully the placement for Nubian Library name,” Kambon wrote, referring to Leonard.
U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Boston City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune, and state Rep. Chris Worrell are among supporters for the renaming.
“Renaming the Roxbury Branch of the Boston Library to the Shaw Roxbury Branch Library at Nubian Square would be inspiring to every member of our community,” Pressley wrote to the BPL Board of Trustees. “Being able to see her name would be a reminder of the tremendous leader that she was, and it would be an amazing symbol of her legacy.”
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