Residents Ask City to Honor Local Civil Rights Leader

(PHOTO: Ingraham Taylor and Marion Anderson at Rye City Council on Wednesday, January 29, 2025.)
(PHOTO: Ingraham Taylor and Marion Anderson at Rye City Council on Wednesday, January 29, 2025.)

Two Rye residents asked the City of Rye on Wednesday evening to honor the memory of M. Paul Redd, a civil rights activist who lived in Rye along with his wife Orial Anne Redd. Redd is perhaps best known for winning a housing discrimination case which permitted him, his wife and two young children to move into the Rye Colony apartments on Peck Avenue. He was also the publisher of The Westchester County Press (a nearly 100 year old paper that serves the African American community) and served as president of the Port Chester/Rye NAACP.

Ingraham Taylor and Marion Anderson, both long time Rye residents, hatched the idea last summer when they saw each other at the local Independence Day celebration run by Doug Carey’s Leaders of Tomorrow and the Rye Historical Society on Village Green. Taylor (committee chair of the Westchester Region NAACP ACT-SO Coalition) celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with a reading of Amanda Gorman’s poem “The Hill We Climb.”

That day, Taylor and Ingraham discussed doing something in Rye to honor the legacy of Redd and his wife such as a street naming. An informal group of about a dozen people including Sandra Blackwell, the current publisher of The Westchester County Press, Olney Reynolds of the African American Men of Westchester (who sits on the board of the Jay Heritage Center), and Anne Gold, executive director of the Rye Historical Society, has been discussing the idea on video calls since then. Taylor is a member of the Rye Human Rights Commission. She raised the idea at a meeting and Councilmember Julie Souza, the City Council liaison, suggested speaking at a meeting.

(PHOTO: M. Paul and Orial Anne Redd, civil rights leaders who lived in the Rye Colony apartments on Peck Avenue. Contributed.)
(PHOTO: M. Paul and Orial Anne Redd, civil rights leaders who lived in the Rye Colony apartments on Peck Avenue. Contributed.)

“We want to preserve the history that they [Paul Redd and his wife Orial] went to this community of – making sure that I can live where I want to live and not be told that I can’t live there because of the color of my skin,” said Anderson at Wednesday’s meeting. “They made that happen.”

Whatever the remembrance is, we want to make sure that you’re on board to help us figure out a way to remember this family and make sure that they are a part of the fabric of the community.”

The suggestion was well received by the Council. City Manager Greg Usry said he and the city staff will work together with Taylor and Anderson to see what is possible. Souza mentioned there is particular interest in finding a location near the Rye Colony apartments where the Redds lived. Taylor said on Thursday they are open to various options, and are also being assisted by local State Assemblyman Steve Otis in speaking with the MTA to see if there is an opportunity at the Rye train station, an area just across the street from the Colony apartments.

Watch Taylor and Anderson at City Council:

RELATED ARTICLES

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *