When names become controversial
Naming streets, schools and monuments after prominent people doesn’t usually generate much outrage at the time of the exaltation. But hindsight guided by present-day standards can turn history’s heroes into contemporary miscreants.
Dozens if not hundreds of Robert E. Lee schools and streets, for example, have been stripped of the Confederate general’s name in the South. But such disputes have not eluded California and the Bay Area, and the brouhaha over Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco is one in an ongoing series.
Here are a few names that have ripened into controversy:
BRAXTON BRAGG
Residents of Fort Bragg on the Mendocino coast pushed back in 2015 after the California Legislative Black Caucus declared the lumber town’s name racist. Bragg was a Confederate general and slave owner. A name change was rebuffed.
JUNIPERO SERRA
Despite his saintly status in the Catholic Church that led many monuments, schools and statues to bear his name in the Bay Area, Father Serra has become a controversial figure over his torture and suppression of American Indians. Stanford University established a commission to consider renaming dorms, a street and even the university’s address, which bear Serra’s name.
DAVID STARR JORDAN, left, and LEWIS TERMAN
In Palo Alto Unified, parents and students banded together to blast the names of Jordan and Terman off two elementary schools this year. While Jordan was the founding president of Stanford and Terman was a prominent educational psychologist, they were criticized for their belief in eugenics, the idea of selective breeding and sterilization to improve the human race.
JOHN WAYNE
The legendary actor was close in 2016 to having his birthday declared John Wayne Day in California until legislators in Sacramento questioned statements he made about African Americans and his support for the anticommunist House Un-American Activities Committee. The actor still has an Orange County airport named after him.
JOSEPH LeCONTE
Every few years, most recently in 2015, Berkeley residents raise concerns over the LeConte name on a city public school. LeConte, one of the first UC Berkeley professors, was also a slave owner in Georgia, and a building on the Cal campus is named after him.
L. RON HUBBARD
In 1996, debate broke out over the naming of a Los Angeles street for the author of “Dianetics” and the founder of Scientology. Council members called Hubbard a bigot, charlatan and crackpot, who referred to homosexuals as perverts. The street still bears his name.
JAMES DUVAL PHELAN
For six decades, University of San Francisco students slept in Phelan Hall, perhaps oblivious to the former San Francisco mayor and U.S. senator’s beliefs, which he demonstrated in his 1920 campaign slogan, “Keep California White.” With a little help from Google, students discovered Phelan’s past and his opposition to Asian immigration. In March, the dorm was renamed Burl A. Toler Hall, after the captain of the famed 1951 football team, who later became the first African American official in the NFL. An avenue in San Francisco still bears Phelan’s name.
BILL COSBY
Colleges across the country reconsidered their associations with Cosby after a number of women accused the comedian and actor of sexual assault. Several universities rescinded Cosby’s honorary degrees, including the University of San Francisco, while Berklee College of Music took his name off a scholarship fund and Spelman College eliminated a professorship sponsored by the entertainer.