The D.C. Council on Tuesday approved a measure changing the name of Woodrow Wilson High School to Jackson-Reed High School, recognizing years of calls from community members to remove the former U.S. president’s name from the school — and ending months of debate over who the new namesake should be.
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Many community members have long sought to move away from the school’s presidential moniker, citing Wilson’s discriminatory policies that spurred the displacement of Black residents in Northwest Washington, where the school is based. But the council’s first vote to rename the school was postponed in October — and again in November — to further consider whether the school should be named after celebrated Black playwright August Wilson or a combination of namesakes: Vincent Reed, the school’s first Black principal, and Edna Jackson, the school’s first Black teacher.
But that debate was put to rest on Tuesday.
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In the first of two required votes before the measure goes to D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s (D) desk, 11 council members voted in favor of the change to Jackson-Reed while Council member Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) voted present. Council member Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7) was absent from Tuesday’s legislative session as he recovers from a mild stroke.
D.C.’s Woodrow Wilson High School will be renamed. Which name is hotly debated.
Some advocates in recent months, including the Bowser administration, had pushed for the school to be renamed after August Wilson, while others retorted that Reed and Jackson would be more appropriate since they have direct ties to the city and school.
Lewis George said Jackson’s name should stand alone and that Reed should be considered for a future renaming. She recounted the racism Jackson faced when she became the first Black teacher to work at the then all-White Wilson High school in 1955, one year after Bolling v. Sharpe desegregated schools in the District.
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“I understand this is a compromise,” she said. “But I can’t let this D.C. native, Black, woman, brilliant teacher, who endured more than what I think some of us could endure, be a compromise piece here.”
Council member Kenyan R. McDuffie (D-Ward 5), an alumnus of Wilson High, had previously asserted that Jackson — who would have been the first woman to have a D.C. public high school named after her — should not have to share the name with a man. Others members had expressed concern that future generations could be confused about the name, falsely believing the school was renamed for an individual named Jackson Reed.
At the November council meeting, however, Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D) argued that there was “overwhelming support” from those who had recently testified about the issue to combine Jackson and Reed’s surnames. Of more than 6,000 respondents who indicated a name preference in a survey conducted by D.C. Public Schools, Jackson-Reed High School received 36 percent of votes compared to 29 percent for August Wilson High School.
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Both of those options ranked higher in the survey than Jackson and Reed did as individual choices, Mendelson said.
Tim Hannapel, who co-founded the D.C. History and Justice Collective, which helped advocate for the name change, said Tuesday he was thrilled with the council’s decision to combine Jackson and Reed. Hannapel, who was taught by Jackson in 1974, said he recognizes the desires of Lewis George and others to elevate her contributions.
Still, he pointed to the results of the survey and acknowledged the Jackson-Reed outcome is a compromise that may leave some people dissatisfied.
“The two of them combined creates powerful teaching and learning opportunities for generations of students to come,” Hannapel said. “I think the council did the right thing by putting Jackson’s name first.”