Community leaders and residents of Tucson’s Sugar Hill area a hoping to get the name of a neighborhood park changed.
Leaders of the Sugar Hill Community Land Trust and Sugar Hill Neighborhood Association hope to convince city leaders to change the name of Mansfield Park, on North Fourth Avenue just south of East Grant Road, to Doris J. Thompson Park.
The two groups and allies, including Ward 3, say the Mansfield name honors historical associations with racially discriminatory restrictions on property deeds before the 1968 Fair Housing Act.
Monte Mansfield, majority owner of the El Cortez Subdivision at the time, donated 20.8 acres of land to the city in the early 1960s to be turned into a park. Mansfield in turn wrote a CCR in the deeds for the area that he wanted to prevent anyone with more than a quarter of African heritage from living in the neighborhood, and went as far as to enter litigation with a property owner in the neighborhood who accidentally sold a home to a Black family.
“He went above and beyond to try and prevent Black families from living in this area,” said Sadie Shaw, president of the community land trust. “So much so that he would sue white people to try to prevent this.”
While Mansfield made efforts to keep the neighborhood predominately white, property owners still occasionally sold homes to Black families and caused ‘white flight,’ Shaw says. That’s how the historically-Black neighborhood was formed.
The name change would bring restorative justice to the community, Shaw wrote to Lara Hamwey, director of the city’s parks department. Doris J. Thompson, a name well-known in the Sugar Hill neighborhood, represents unwavering dedication to the community, Shaw says.
Doris Thompson stepped up to serve the community and mentored many neighborhood children, including Sugar Hill Neighborhood Association President Jack Anderson.
“Doris J. Thompson is someone who came into the neighborhood from city parks and rec when this was considered a really tough part of the neighborhood,” Anderson said. “She mentored us. After school, she was there at the park always waiting for us. She took care of all of us, she really did.”
Harvey Thompson is now helping lead efforts to change the park’s name in honor of his mother.
“It’s truly amazing. My mother helped so many people and adopted so many other people’s children as her own,” Thompson said. “My mom has been a role model all my life. You know how little kids on commercials say, ‘When I grow up I want to be Michael Jordan? I want to be Doris Thompson.”
Thompson says his mother always tried to give the community love and direction, and served as a resource and advocate for those who needed it.
“I was very blessed to have a queen teach me all those lessons in life,” Thompson said.
He says the Sugar Hill Neighborhood Association has been extremely understanding and interactive in this process.
“Being able to hear the testimonies of so many people brought tears of joy, to know that my mom was so instrumental in their life,” Thompson said.
The neighborhood leaders wrote to the city parks department to initiate the process of the name change. But they have yet to get a response.
They hope to move forward with their efforts and work with the city to make the change by Thanksgiving, Anderson said.
