By Derek Wilson
Marinscope
June 2020 saw the final graduating class of Sir Francis Drake High School in San Anselmo. The school is now searching for a new name, a new mascot, and a new identity.
When the school was founded in 1951, the thought was, in part, to commemorate a significant event in Marin County’s history by naming it after Sir Francis Drake. The school identified with the maritime folklore of Drake. The mascot was a pirate. The school newspaper was the Jolly Roger.
Now, anger over that same event and Drake’s reputation as a slave trader and slave owner have spurred officials to strip all references to Sir Francis Drake from the school, now temporarily known as High School 1327 — the school’s street address on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.
An announcement from school principal Liz Seabury reads: “While we engage in the process of renaming the school, we believe that it is important to remove or cover the harmful symbols associated with the current school name. To that, we have begun removing/covering the name ‘Drake’ and symbols on campus. We know not all community members agree with the decision to change the name or the symbols associated therein, and you will be provided an opportunity to engage in our process. It is our hope that all sides can be heard and we can move forward with a new name that is unifying and inclusive.”
Meetings are scheduled for August 12th and 25th and September 8 to engage community input for a new name for the school. Nine school staff members and nine community members — parents and students — will lead the process as the school Leadership Council. The school district is taking applications from the community for those who want to be considered for election to the leadership council.
A statement from the school staff showed support for the name change and was almost apologetic in its tone:
“We, the staff of Sir Francis Drake High School, would like to add our voices to the growing calls for the removal of Sir Francis Drake’s name from our place of learning. We acknowledge the racist and violent acts of Francis Drake, a slave trader, slave owner, and colonizer, and the legacy of white supremacy he represents. Honoring such a person is counter to the values held by our community and counter to the lessons and values we wish our students and colleagues to learn. We recognize that a performative act of a simple name change is not enough. We recognize that for far too long, we have failed in our allyship to our colleagues, students, and communities of color. The lack of truth in American history has had a truly deep impact and helped foster separation (Racism) in the lives of our youth. We have failed our students in inclusive true history in our books and classrooms. …By supporting this action, we are not seeking to erase our history but to acknowledge the deep racist roots of that history. Our responsibility will then be to dedicate time and work to build a truly anti-racist school culture. We hope that our new name will emerge from this reflective journey.”
On Wednesday, July 29, officials from the Tamalpais Union High School District and the school began work to remove or hide the school’s name and mascot images. All day, the school was identified as “High School in San Anselmo” on its Twitter account.
The work at the school did not go unnoticed by the community, and Central Marin Police reported receiving several complaints of vandalism at the school.
A statement from Seabury about the work read in part, “… While we engage in the process of renaming the school, we believe that it is important to remove or cover the harmful symbols associated with the current school name. … We know that not all community members agree with the decision to change the name or symbols associated therein, and those community members will be provided an opportunity to engage in our process. It is our hope that all sides can be heard and we can move forward with a new name that is unifying and inclusive…”
The push continues to change the name of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, a roughly 43-mile stretch of road, running east-west, from the Point Reyes Lighthouse to the San Rafael-Richmond Bridge. The road connects 12 communities: Larkspur, Greenbrae, Kentfield, Ross, San Anselmo, Fairfax, San Geronimo, Lagunitas-Forest Knolls, Olema, Woodacre, Inverness and Point Reyes Station.
A 30-foot tall metal sculpture of an explorer with a flag and a sword used to stand near the east end of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, watching as ferries crossed the bay between Larkspur and San Francisco. That abstract sculpture of Sir Francis Drake — although there was never a nameplate identifying the figure as Drake — was removed from its place at Larkspur Landing by direction of the Larkspur City Council on Tuesday morning in the early dawn hours. The statue, erected in 1990, had been vandalized recently in the wake of George Floyd killing and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Central Marin Police stated the removal was “in response to planned demonstrations to tear down or demolish the statue … in a way that is potentially unsafe. Removing the statue is intended to promote public safety while preserving the statue so that dialogue about its future can continue.”
Artist Dennis Patton had earlier offered to rededicate the statue as “Discovery” to lessen its connection with Drake. He said in an earlier interview that the sculpture was not intended to honor Drake, but rather to mark the the “event” of his landing.
History texts generally teach that Drake, while attempting to circumnavigate the globe, his ship the Golden Hinde landed near San Francisco Bay in June 1579. There are some who doubt Drake ever set foot in Marin County. Native Coast Miwok populations declined from diseases introduced as Europeans found their way to the San Francisco Bay region. The Miwok culture was endangered as the people fell under the influence of the Franciscan Missions.
Drake’s connection to Marin County is extensive as there are numerous streets and sites that bear his name or the name of his ship, including Golden Hinde Passage in Corte Madera and Drake’s Bay in the Point Reyes National Seashore.
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