A D.C. government committee caused quite a stir this week when it released a report calling for the city to reassess the many historical figures whose names grace Washington’s public properties.
The most controversial recommendation was deleted the same day it was published: that D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) urge federal authorities to “remove, relocate, or contextualize” eight federal monuments, including the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial. (D.C.’s nonvoting member of Congress says the idea was to add a plaque to those sites explaining that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson enslaved people, not to move the sites or take them down.)
But the bulk of the report deals with local Washington — the parks and playgrounds, schools and shelters where residents study, work, live and play every day. The writers of the report recommended that dozens of people’s names be removed from these buildings based on several criteria, including whether they enslaved people, created laws that oppressed women and minorities, or committed acts that would violate D.C. human rights law.
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Some of the targeted namesakes are famous, including seven U.S. presidents, national anthem author Francis Scott Key, Declaration of Independence signer Benjamin Franklin and inventor Alexander Graham Bell.
Some you may never have heard of. Take, for instance, the Sharpe school building in Ward 4. It’s named for C. Melvin Sharpe, one of the defendants on the wrong side of Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 Supreme Court decision that resulted in the desegregation of public schools nationwide. Or West Education Campus. It’s named for Joseph Rodman West, a general who reportedly ordered the murder of a peace-seeking Native American chief.
Ultimately, it will be up to the school communities and the D.C. Council to judge whether any of these names should be changed. You can read about all of them below. The Washington Post could not determine why the committee decided to include four people on this list. (D.C. officials have not responded to a request for further explanation of the choices). Those names are marked with asterisks below. Any readers and historians who have more information on why these four made the list, please email the reporter at julie.zauzmer@washpost.com.
Ward 1
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Bell Multicultural High School — Named for Alexander Graham Bell. Richard Reyes-Gavilan, director of D.C.’s public libraries and co-chair of the committee, explained the inventor’s inclusion on the list: “With Alexander Graham Bell, there was talk about his involvement with eugenics as something that was very, very serious.”
Bruce-Monroe Elementary School at Park View — The Monroe in Bruce-Monroe is James Monroe, the fifth president, who enslaved dozens of people.
Recreational facilities
Bruce Monroe Community Garden — Like the school, this honors Monroe.
Harrison Playground — Named for President William Henry Harrison, who inherited enslaved people and owned them before becoming president.
Ward 2
Hyde-Addison Elementary School — This school is named for 19th century local political leaders Henry Addison and Anthony T. Hyde*, and the committee said both men should have their names stripped from the school. Adam Nubbe, a graduate student in history at George Mason University, found census records indicating Addison owned enslaved people.
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Thomson Elementary School — Named for Strong John Thomson, a principal in the D.C. public school system in the 19th century. Thomson founded a private school, which later became this public elementary school, in the 1860s. According to at least one account, Thomson’s reason for resigning from the public school system and founding his own school was that he would not give in to the D.C. mayor’s demand that he racially integrate his public school.
Planet Word at Franklin School — The committee proposes removing Founding Father Benjamin Franklin’s name from the building that houses the not-yet-open Planet Word museum. Beverly Perry, the other co-chair of the committee, pointed to a line from Franklin’s writing in 1751 as evidence of his racism (as well as his history of enslaving people, though he later became an abolitionist). He wrote: “Why increase the sons of Africa, by planting them in America, where we have so fair an opportunity, by excluding all blacks and tawnys, of increasing the lovely white and red?”
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Jackson Art Center — The building is named for President Andrew Jackson, who enslaved people. Jackson has been criticized by historians for signing the Indian Removal Act, which effectively banished native tribes from the eastern United States and has been termed genocidal, and his acts as president to remove rights from free Black citizens and promote slavery.
Key Bridge Boathouse — The committee proposes renaming the city-owned boathouse, which was named for national anthem writer Francis Scott Key, but does not mention what Key Bridge itself should be called. Key enslaved people.
Ward 3
Key Elementary School — Like the Key Bridge Boathouse in Ward 2, the school is named for Key.
Stoddert Elementary School — Benjamin Stoddert was the country’s first secretary of the Navy. Historical reports claim that Stoddert enslaved people and that while Black men had participated in the Navy during the Revolution, Stoddert barred them from joining when he assumed control in 1798.
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Woodrow Wilson High School — The high school community has debated for years whether to remove the name of President Woodrow Wilson, who left a record of numerous racist statements and actions. When Wilson became president, the federal workforce was integrated; Wilson acted to resegregate it. Wilson was the president of Princeton University before he became president of the country, and the university recently removed his name from its public policy school.
Recreational facilities
Foxhall Playground — Henry Foxall, whose iron company supplied cast iron for the U.S. Capitol and Jefferson’s Monticello, gave his name (rendered as Foxhall) to this playground, as well as streets and other features of the nearby neighborhood. Foxall’s biographer, Jane Donovan, told The Post he did not believe in lifelong slavery, in keeping with the views of his United Methodist Church at the time. But he did buy enslaved people. When he purchased them, he presented them with a certificate saying they would be free once they completed a term of work for him, generally 10 years.
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Guy Mason Park — Guy Mason was appointed in 1941 to the three-man commission overseeing the District, before residents were allowed to elect their own leaders. The commissioner told the Washington Tribune, an African American newspaper, that he believed Black employees to be less honest and that he wouldn’t hire Black firefighters for certain roles because White men wouldn’t want to sleep near them in the firehouse, among other comments.
Stoddert Recreation Center — Like the school, the recreation center is named for Benjamin Stoddert.
Ward 4
Sharpe campus — As president of the D.C. Board of Education in 1952, C. Melvin Sharpe — for whom this building that has housed several D.C. schools is named — defended the District’s policy of segregation in the case Bolling v. Sharpe. The case became one of five that the Supreme Court bundled together as the landmark Brown v. Board of Education.
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West Education Campus — Joseph Rodman West, a Union general during and after the Civil War who went on to serve as a senator from Louisiana, is the namesake of this school. In 1863, Apache leader Mangas Coloradas reportedly told U.S. troops that he wanted to make peace and approached West under a peace flag. West is said to have ordered the Native American leader killed, and his body was later desecrated.
Recreational facilities
Emery Heights Community Center — A master stonecutter who cut and laid the cornerstone of the Washington Monument, Matthew Gault Emery* served as mayor of Washington from 1870-71.
Upshur Park — As secretary of state under President John Tyler, Abel P. Upshur — who enslaved people — worked on the treaty that ensured Texas was admitted to the United States as a slave state. According to one historian, Upshur long defended slavery and once called it “a great positive good, to be carefully protected and preserved.”
Ward 5
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Brookland Middle School — The school and the surrounding neighborhood are named for landowner Jehiel Brooks. Records indicate he enslaved 13 people, 11 of them children.
Emery School — Like the community center in Ward 4, this building — which is now closed — was named for Matthew Gault Emery.
Recreational facilities
Brentwood Hamilton Park and Brentwood Playground — These two parks, which the committee recommends renaming, were named for Robert Brent, the first mayor of Washington. The surrounding neighborhood and nearby Metro station also use the name Brentwood. A D.C. government history says Brent, a proponent of slavery, helped create a set of laws known as Black Codes, which made it illegal for Black residents to be on the street after 10 p.m. and required free African Americans to carry certificates proving their freedom at all times.
Brentwood Square Center — This government-owned building is also named for Robert Brent.
Brooks Mansion — Jehiel Brooks’s home, also known as Bellair, is a historic site owned by the D.C. government.
Emery Shelter Clinic — This building, like the Emery Heights Community Center in Ward 4 and the closed school in Ward 5, is also named for Matthew Gault Emery.
Ward 6
Brent Elementary School — This school, like several facilities in Ward 5, is named for Robert Brent.
Eliot-Hine Middle School — Charles William Eliot was president of Harvard University from 1869 to 1909, and a proponent of racist beliefs about eugenics and interracial marriage.
Jefferson Middle School Academy — The school is named for the third president, Jefferson, who enslaved people.
Ludlow-Taylor Elementary School — President Zachary Taylor kept 150 people in slavery in three states, including while he was president.
Maury Elementary School — John Walker Maury, mayor of the District from 1852 to 1854, also enslaved people.
Seaton Elementary School — A 1902 edition of the Methodist Review says William Winston Seaton, the D.C. mayor for whom this school is named, enslaved people, though he freed some of them. The article claims Seaton believed in a gradual end to slavery and thought some abolitionists of his time were too quick to ignore property rights.
Tyler Elementary School — President John Tyler owned enslaved people while in office.
Van Ness Elementary School — The school is named for John Peter Van Ness, who also has a Metro station bearing his name in Ward 3. Van Ness, a mayor of Washington, enslaved people.
Public housing
Arthur Capper Senior Housing — As a senator from Kansas, Arthur Capper proposed a constitutional amendment to outlaw interracial marriage in 1923.
Carroll Apartments — This complex is named for Daniel Carroll of Duddington, a major landowner whose house was torn down to make way for Pierre Charles L’Enfant’s plan of Washington. He also reportedly enslaved people.
Greenleaf Gardens — James Greenleaf* was an early landowner in Washington.
Recreational facilities
Jefferson Field — This field is also named for Thomas Jefferson.
King Greenleaf Recreation Center — The recreation center is named for the same James Greenleaf as the public housing complex.
Blair Shelter — This shelter, inside the former Blair School, is named for Francis Preston Blair Jr. (The guesthouse across from the White House with the same name is named for his father.) A congressman from Missouri, Blair Jr. enslaved people but opposed the expansion of slavery. He helped prevent his state from joining the Confederacy and fought for the Union army. But after the war, he left the Republican Party that he had helped to found, in part because he believed Black citizens should not have the right to vote. When he served as Democratic presidential nominee Horatio Seymour’s running mate in the 1868 election, Blair gave incendiary, racist speeches. He also has a statue in the U.S. Capitol.
Ward 7
D.C. Prep Public Charter School at Benning Elementary — This charter school uses the building of the now-closed Benning Elementary School, which was named for local landowner William Benning, who enslaved people. Nearby, the neighborhood, Metro station and major street all use Benning’s name as well.
Public housing
Benning Terrace — Like many properties in the area, these apartments are named for William Benning.
Stoddert Terrace — As is the case with the Ward 3 school, this complex is named for Benjamin Stoddert.
Recreational facilities
Benning Stoddert Recreation Center — This one is named for both William Benning and Benjamin Stoddert. The committee says both names should go.
Ward 8
Excel Academy/Lee Montessori Public Charter School at Birney School — Located at the site of the former Birney Elementary, this charter school still uses James Birney’s name on its building. Birney once enslaved people but became a prominent abolitionist. He resigned from the American Anti-Slavery Society because he opposed expanding women’s rights.
Public housing
Barry Farm — The neighborhood known as Barry Farm has long been one of Washington’s most historic predominantly Black neighborhoods, beginning when the Freedmen’s Bureau bought the land and people who had been freed from slavery made it their home. The area was named for early owner James D. Barry.*
Recreational facilities
Barry Farm Recreation Center — This, too, is named for James D. Barry.
Potomac Job Corps Center — Three buildings at the District’s residential job training school are named for presidents Thomas Jefferson, John Tyler and Woodrow Wilson. The committee recommends renaming all three halls.
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