Nashville councilwoman wants Hadley Park renamed for Freedom Riders

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — A historic Nashville park could be getting a new name.

At-Large Metro Councilwoman Sharon Hurt wants to rename Hadley Park after the Freedom Riders and the sit-in movement in Nashville in the 1960s.

Hadley Park was established in 1912. It was Nashville’s original and only park for African Americans for many years – and the first of its kind in the entire country.

Now, it’s home to ball fields, a library, senior center, community center and more.

But Councilwomen Hurt is proposing a new name to the Metro Board of Parks and Recreation, saying its current name is questionable.

“Although the park was named by Eugene Lewis, then the director of the Nashville Parks and Recreation Department, the person for whom it was named remains a contentious question, with some accounts citing the repentant slave owner John L. Hadley, while others point to Dr. W.A. Hadley, a prominent Africa American physician with whom Lewis worked on the planning of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition of 1897,” the Cultural Landscape Foundation wrote on its website.

Late Rep. John Lewis was among the 13 original Freedom Riders, civil activists who rode buses across the South to challenge America’s segregation laws.

“Today, I implore you to be courageous and rename Hadley Park to the Nashville Freedom Riders,” Hurt said to parks board members.

The renaming proposal now goes to Metro Parks Naming Committee for consideration.