San Francisco official suggests taking slaveholders’ names off schools, including George Washington

A portrait of George Washington by the painter Gilbert Stuart. San Francisco school board President Matt Haney suggests it’s time to consider removing Washington’s name from George Washington High School because the nation’s first president owned slaves. less A portrait of George Washington by the painter Gilbert Stuart. San Francisco school board President Matt Haney suggests it’s time to consider removing Washington’s name from George Washington High School ... more Photo: Contributed Photo Photo: Contributed Photo Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close San Francisco official suggests taking slaveholders’ names off schools, including George Washington 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

George Washington, the guy on the quarter, could soon be facing the ax in San Francisco as surely as his fabled cherry tree.

The president of the San Francisco school board thinks it’s time to consider renaming schools that bear the names of slave owners — including Washington and his friends and fellow presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe.

Board President Matt Haney said Tuesday he will introduce a resolution before the board this month to clarify the rules for renaming San Francisco schools with an eye to encouraging the communities at Washington High School, along with Jefferson and Monroe elementary schools, to consider whether they want to make a change.

Another school that might want to think about a new name, Haney said, is Francis Scott Key Elementary School — which was named for the slave-owning lyricist of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

“We need to have a conversation about this,” Haney said. “Especially at George Washington High School. We have school names in San Francisco that are not relevant or meaningful or inspire pride.”

Yes, Haney said, the name Washington — also shared by a state, the U.S. capital and a likeness on a dollar bill — might very well be such a name.

“I would not want to speak for the school community,” Haney said. “It’s a very tricky issue. I’m trying to stay away from condemning anyone. It was a very different time back then. But slavery was America’s original sin.”

Under Haney’s proposal, schools would be encouraged to form committees consisting of students, parents, teachers and administrators to study the issue. If the committee favored a name change, the school board would consider it. The board has the ultimate authority to change a school name.

Were Washington High to shed its name, Haney said, it might be a good idea to replace it with that of poet Maya Angelou, who attended Washington.

The idea, Haney said, came to him while he was listening to a sermon Sunday by the Rev. Amos Brown at Third Baptist Church in San Francisco. Brown has long been incensed that the little-known third verse of the national anthem, written in 1814 by the anti-abolitionist Key, includes the lyrics,“ No refuge could save the hireling and slave/From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,” and he devoted a fair chunk of his Sunday sermon to it. Brown had time to fill, as his invited guest speaker — 49ers quarterback and national anthem protester Colin Kaepernick — failed to appear.

Since raising the issue, Haney said, he’s had his hands full answering calls and messages. His social media page has overflowed with proponents and opponents, along with spirited name calling.

“You —hole!!!!!!!!!” wrote the author of one message, who identified himself as Mr. Mitchell.

To that, Haney responded, “So I guess this means Mr. Mitchell is opposed.”

Other comments have ranged from, “Change is needed and you are doing great in leading the way,” to, “This is the most ridiculous, politically correct farce I’ve heard.”

On the front steps of Washington High in the Richmond District, a group of students seemed generally opposed to the name change. Senior Brianna Rosales said the notion was “really offensive to us,” and junior Sierra Moulroney called it a “bad idea.”

But senior Jada Curry said it “seems like a good idea” because of the slave issue and added that her teachers “always mention Maya Angelou.”

Washington substitute teacher Jan Padover said he was a “big fan of Maya Angelou, and I know this was her alma mater — but you don’t mess with George Washington.”

The school does not hide from the slave-owning past of its namesake. Just inside the front door are large murals depicting slaves at Washington’s Virginia home of Mount Vernon and another scene of Washington surrounded by slaves shucking corn and picking cotton.

Washington and his wife owned 317 slaves, and Jefferson owned about 600 in his lifetime. Monroe owned about 75 slaves, and Key owned seven.

At other schools that Haney said might want to consider a name change, administrators were taking a wait-and-see attitude.

“I can see where Matt Haney is coming from, but I don’t have any thoughts on this yet and I haven’t heard from anyone in the school community about it,” said Kim Adams, the principal at Jefferson Elementary in the Sunset District. She said it would be up to the “multiple stakeholders” at the school, and not to her, to push for such a change. But there were practical reasons the school might want to think twice.

“We just got 500 new Jefferson T-shirts, one for every student,” Adams said. “That’s a lot of shirts.”