Drake High School reconsiders name change
A campaign to rename Drake High School has resurfaced. Drake is currently named after Sir Francis Drake, a British pirate and slave trader. The campaign hopes to name Drake after Archie Williams, a former teacher and Olympian. Archie Williams won the gold medal for the 440 yard dash in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Sir Francis Drake is the current namesake, as is the road it’s built on because “Scholars said Drake had landed on the Point Reyes peninsula, in Marin County.” according to The Guardian.
Before 1951, the land that is now Drake High School was known as Cordone Gardens. There is still a Cordone drive in San Anselmo.
Whether or not the renaming will be agreed upon this time remains to be seen. Will San Anselmo’s high school be named for a pioneering Olympian and long time Marin resident, or a 16th century colonizer?
Check out our follow up story here.
What do you think? Answer the poll!
Should the school change its name from Sir Francis Drake to Archie Williams?
- Yes! (51%, 777 Votes)
- No. (49%, 749 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,526
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Michael Konowitz • Sep 16, 2020 at 11:28 PM
As a physically disabled student who was awarded a letter for my heavy involvement with the sports programs and then won the Carl Red Brown scholarship, that letterman jacket with the big green D means a lot to me. I’m definitely emotionally attached to the name of the high school.
But my emotional attachments are not more important than making our black and other minority students and alumni feel loved, respected, and cared for.
Imagine leaving a high school named after an explorer who it was later discovered was also a nazi, even if he was only a little bit of a nazi and came of age in a time and place in Germany where that was widely acceptable.
No, just no.
The Buddha said attachments are the root of all suffering. As someone who now works in personal development, I can tell you that attachments only hold us back.
It’s time to let go, move forward with the times, and prioritize making all of our current and future students feel like their lives matter as much as anyone else’s. If you ACTUALLY believe all lives matter, then you should understand this.
Ariana Pemberton • Sep 16, 2020 at 4:50 PM
CHANGING THE NAME does not erase memories, it does not threaten anyone’s livelihood or safety, it does not ignore history. Keeping the name, however, makes many people uncomfortable, feel unsafe and unaccepted, ignored, and upset. This is because the name Sir Francis Drake represents native genocide, slave trading, and colonialism. Some people have been claiming that there is no proof that Drake participated in these racist histories (those people are seriously misinformed and are regurgitating an outdated, Eurocentric history that needs revision). But even if we go along with them, one cannot refute the fact that Drake’s name conjures these images of colonialism, slave trade, and native genocide for many people of color. This is important! If a person tells you they feel uncomfortable and upset for x, y, and z, it is your job to listen and understand how x, y, and z is harmful to them rather than deny that person’s reality of pain just because x, y, and z doesn’t harm you. That is what community building and support looks like.
It is time to stop coddling white comfort and white, blissful ignorance. The history many learned is that Drake an explorer and rebellious pirate; the history many learned along side this is that the Mayflower was a big boat full of happy pilgrims who just wanted to learn about corn and feast with natives; the history many of us learned was that Christopher Columbus discovered America and is to be celebrated. We now know that these histories were written as propaganda to justify white saviorism, colonization, slavery, etc. It is time to teach a revised history that recognizes the humanity of non-Europeans and that recognizes the deep deep harm and trauma that has been inflicted by white settlers such as Drake. CHANGE THE NAME!
Ace Thelin • Sep 16, 2020 at 11:20 AM
Time to change the name, read history books and support an anti-racist and anti-capitalist curriculum at high school 1327 and all educational facilities. Drake was an early colonizer plain and simple. At a time when Europe was using ideas of white supremacy and christian supremacy to terrorize indigenous peoples around the world Drake was serving the Crown and fighting for England in it’s wars for an expanding empire. What is also so troubling is that Drake high school was named in 1950? at a time when the US was an aparteid state under the law. If you know anything about the history of lynchings in the US it says a lot that Marin named a high school after someone associated with White European Expansionism when black people were being murdered and lynched on a regular basis.
Camille B • Sep 16, 2020 at 11:07 AM
This idea that changing a name erases history is faulty logic and such an inflexible, stuck understanding of history. It is to suggest that things must stay exactly the same, otherwise the past did not exist, because it must be immortalized in the present. When someone gets married, and chooses to change their name, does their entire past, disappear because they no longer use their former last name? This is ridiculous. Chosen names embody what we currently want to represent – and Drake changing its name to embody the values and inclusivity it wishes to foster is a fabulous choice. It’s legacy and former name, memories, etc, still existed and can be remembered and celebrated. None of that it lost. A name change is just another marker of what we will come to call the school’s “history” – one that’s representative of the shift in our larger community’s social divestment from the glorification of those who participated in colonization and slavery.
Erica - class of 2009 • Sep 16, 2020 at 11:02 AM
Change the name, please. Time to honor other leaders. It’s not erasing history, it’s course correcting for future HS students to feel welcomed.
Satchel Friedman • Sep 16, 2020 at 10:33 AM
All the comments from our poor alumni who don’t want their history tarnished are missing the point. Racist and anti-semitic violence is happening in these halls today. The name change sends a message that this won’t be tolerated, and is only the first step in a long journey towards preventing this type of harm in the future. Someone in the comments said that Drake has an “excellent reputation.” This is not true – it, like most Marin schools, are well known for racism and ignorance. Do better, listen to your community, and stand with the students that need your help, not their oppressors.
Thea Shanice • Sep 16, 2020 at 10:23 AM
Time for a change! It seems the grads from 1970 are the most upset. Get over it. Drake was a slave trader, colonizer, thief and killer. Why defend him more than you do people of color in your own community? Change the name!
Jean Menes • Sep 11, 2020 at 7:35 PM
I am a 1973 graduate of Sir Francis Drake High School. Please leave the name of our school alone.
Tom Knight • Sep 11, 2020 at 12:43 PM
How about naming it Cancel Culture High School? I respected Archie . I know both Archie JR and Carlos. I think we should not change the name. I would recommend naming the track and field after Archie. As far as i am concerned it will allways be Drake to me.
Terry Dill • Sep 10, 2020 at 8:51 PM
I find it interesting that Archie Williams was the only good teacher Drake ever had! I also have no problem with the track being named after him.
Ozt Osborne • Sep 10, 2020 at 5:12 PM
PS, the other telltale hint/clue is I would Never-ever use the term “Humbling” outside of my Baptist Church.
Pray to keep our rights free!
Oz-we6oz-
Oz Osborne • Sep 10, 2020 at 5:08 PM
There is a post a few posts above bearing MY NAME, I Assure it is NOT ME, I will and am fighting cancel-culture and would NEVER vote for a name change!
I think I may which one of my “pro-change “”friends”” that may have posted it from my firm-stance on a fakebook post.
I am a member on more Ukrainian Groups than American (English speaking) I have not use conjunctive words in my posting as it does not translate well. I ended-up speaking that way just to see if anyone here in my small Town in Missouri noticed, but no one did.
So I call a counterfeit post, I think I know quite well who posted it, getting the middle initial required looking me up on SFD records as I do not use my old name anymore.
Archie, great Teacher, I had him 1 class\, when, or if I was not cutting class.
Smile, I am far from california.
Oz.
Christopher Shelley • Sep 10, 2020 at 4:10 PM
Drake was NOT a pirate! He held a “letter of marque” from the Crown. That gave him legal authority under the rules of known warfare to take Spanish ships and make war on Spanish possessions. That makes him a *privateer*, not a pirate. You must, as a journalist, get the barest facts straight.
For the rest of it, whatever. I liked being a Drake Pirate. But if the community wants to change the name, it is a community decision. I no longer live in the community. I will be rather sad, but I can live with the Williams Olympians.
Rick White • Sep 10, 2020 at 2:49 PM
I attended Drake four years from 1968 to 1972 and graduated. I was on the football and tack teams during that time. I do NOT want the school name to be changed.
Thank You.
Charles Trimble • Sep 1, 2020 at 9:31 PM
My vote is to keep the original name of “Sir Francis Drake High School” but if it must change, let the change be to “Drake”.
I also vote to name the track after Archie Williams as he was a great man, well respected as a teacher but even better known for his accomplishments on the running track.
[email protected] • Aug 29, 2020 at 6:00 PM
White privilege. This helps minorities more than supporting established campaigns, how? We should probably stop calling it America since the founding fathers who came up with the name all had slaves, right?
Daryl Prattleburns • Aug 28, 2020 at 9:48 AM
White people- yes, you, too!
This isn’t the stand the world needs right now. Take this white privileged angst and determination, call a minorities advocate group, and ask how you can help.
Changing the name of the high school in the whitest town in the Bay Area helps literally NO-ONE!
You’re not ending racism with this, you’re doing less to support the fight against it.
Whether you went to Drake, lived in Pittsburgh, or just loved Johnny Depp in the early 2000’s-
Go Pirates!
Stan Stock • Aug 27, 2020 at 10:45 PM
Archie Williams High School on Miwok BLVD ( formerly SFDrake BLVD)
Stan Stock
SFDrake class of 1976
Mr. Archie Williams was a great AND humble man!
My best teacher ever.
Jay Evans • Aug 27, 2020 at 3:03 PM
Might as well just give up and call it George Lucas High and George Lucas Blvd.
Dave Vergara - Class of 76 • Aug 23, 2020 at 11:39 AM
I will always support the school, but, I will always refer to the school as Drake. I will never refer to the school by the new name should they decide to rename the school. I do not condone Drake’s actions but that was the way things were back in those days. You can not change history. This was a part of life back then.
Drake High has a history. I am certain that the many successful and prominent former students, including former Basketball players who went on to state champions (etc) and other athletes, will always refer to themselves as Drake graduates and Pirates.
Sir Francis Drake, to the Spanish, was a wayward pirate; to the English, he was a hero. He could be considered a morally dubious hero in many ways, perhaps even a villain, but was still incredibly influential in Tudor times.
Source: https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Sir-Francis-Drake/#:~:text=Sir%20Francis%20Drake%20%E2%80%93%20to%20the,incredibly%20influential%20in%20Tudor%20times.
Emma Mooney • Aug 22, 2020 at 7:55 PM
Class of 2013 here! I am astounded, though I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, to see alumni with such a blatant misunderstanding of history. The stubbornness to change a name, and the consideration of this name as inextricably tied to ones’ life experiences, is telling. What we should be taking pride in is not the name of a person who has been mythologized to the point of faultlessness, but in the willingness of the Fairfax/SA community to highlight more meaningful stories. The primary significance of Sir Francis Drake to our lives is that he contributed to the colonization of the Americas and allowed many of us to be born on this land. We should not take that fact as a chance to give thanks but rather to reflect on who has suffered on our behalf. Your stance on issues like this makes clear whether you are on the side of the oppressors or the colonizers, so which side are you on? Power to the current Archie Williams High students!
Valerie Theresa • Aug 22, 2020 at 1:28 PM
I graduated from Drake and would be proud to have the name changed to the beloved teacher Archie Williams. Both my children went to Drake & both would like to see the name changed to Archie Williams as well.
Sir Francis Drake, the pirate, pilager , has no value to us.
Valerie
Scott D Osborne • Aug 22, 2020 at 12:03 AM
NO! put a STOP to cancel-culture!
Douglas Martin • Aug 21, 2020 at 10:17 PM
I’m happy not only to have been taught by ARCHIE , BUT TO SEE ALL THE LIVES HE REACHED BESIDES ME … ITS HUMBLING THANK YOU ARCHIE FOR TEACHING US AND REACHING US GOD BLESS US ALL
Jeffery Bernardi • Aug 21, 2020 at 10:43 AM
I am against the name change of our Drake High School. But if it happens I have 2 choices. The first would be Archie Williams High School. He was a great man and teacher with a storied past consisting of many historical achievements which makes him worthy of the honor.
My second choice would be to change the name to a symbol. ( maybe a peace symbol) Then we would be recognized as ” “The High School formally known as Drake High School”. Prince would be proud.
Ryan • Aug 20, 2020 at 6:06 PM
Drake never colonized anything… He was a privateer. Not much better but who proof reads this? This reads with so much bias.
Madeline Merritt • Aug 16, 2020 at 2:36 AM
It’s should be changed to Costal Miwok High School! Can you include that in the poll?!
Stacie Crowe Conti • Aug 15, 2020 at 5:16 PM
Do your due diligence..Drake was a slave owner, and treated the indigenous people he encountered poorly.
When we were young we did not think about those things.
Our conscious awareness was, to say the least limited.
My memories of High School were grand. I love my school mates, and even now have nothing but fondness in my heart.
The school name : Sir Francis Drake should be changed. We know better now. A different name is not going to gonna change my memories or my great feelings for all those I had the pleasure of spending all those years .❤
lorraine wilson petersen • Aug 7, 2020 at 7:09 AM
No..
Nancy Saper Bryan • Aug 3, 2020 at 8:05 PM
Dear Tamalpais Unified School District Members
I am a 1972 Graduate of Sir Francis Drake High School. I am saddened to see the letters removed a couple days ago. Sir Francis Drake High School has a excellent reputation. Sir Francis Drake discovered Drakes Bay and he was involved in slave trading but found compassion and ended up helping black and white slaves.
If you are going to change the name of the school and the Blvd after all these years 70 Years, how about naming it Robin Williams High School and Robin Williams Blvd?
I don’t think it should be changed at all after all these years but if you do, name it after The Late Robin Williams as the rainbow tunnel is named after him and keep politics out of it.
This whole Black Lives Matter Movement is hypocritical and causing more racism and violence. All of the sudden after 70 years you are going to change the name. Sir Francis Drake High was my high school and survived through the civil rights movement of the 60’s. This is ridiculous and This is all because of the Do Nothing Democrats.
Sincerely,
Nancy Saper Bryan
1972 Graduate Sir Francis Drake High School
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone
Nancy Bryan • Aug 3, 2020 at 7:47 PM
I agree that Sir Francis Drake High School name should not be changed. It’s been Sir Francis Drake High School For 70 Years. What about all of us Alumni that Graduated from Drake. I graduated in 1972.We are proud of our school and Drake has a wonderful reputation. You can’t change the fact That Sir Francis Drake Discovered Drakes Bay. It’s part of the History of Marin County. To me it will always be Sir Francis Drake High School. You got to look at the good Sir Francis Drake Did. For us that were born and raised in Marin County that is the history and what we know.
Dan Hollingworth • Jul 3, 2020 at 1:00 AM
After receiving his knighthood, awarded by Queen Elizabeth, Sir Francis Drake unilaterally adopted the armorials of his new heraldic achievement, with motto: Sic Parvis Magna, translated literally: “Thus great things from small things (come)”. The hand out of the clouds is labelled Auxilio Divino, or “With Divine Help.
So I say, with Gods help Greatness comes from small beginnings. To change the name of Sir Francis Drake High School, is to change the Greatness that has been attained by so many young men and women that came from small beginnings, who achieved their awards of great things associated with the
spirit of being an Alumni of the name Sir Francis Drake High School! Don’t take that School Spirit away from Alumni who associate the name Sir Francis Drake High School with Greatness that comes from small beginnings.
Sir Francis Drake High School is Great! GO PIRATES!
Carl Gilbert • Jun 30, 2020 at 10:01 AM
All of us are going back and forth on this thing. I voted against the change, and though I loved Archie and most of us did, I think changing it’s name is not a help. Sir Francis Drake is now seen as a pirate (and probably was), but what about the company that build the crucifixion over 2000 years ago? So as I have stated before maybe the track, or a track relay event,(open invitational or something), plus it should have been put closer after his death. I think Archie passed away in the mid 90’s. I mean I saw his name when I made my trip to Berlin in 83, and now why we go over it, we even now see the Revolutionary War was no more than a civil disobedience in the eyes of Britain. Frankly the upkeep of the land was too costly for George the 3rd. The big power house cut their losses and didn’t make that mistake again. So yes, study more and learn more facts about Drake and others like him. While were at it lets renamed the entire country after the unknown Viking that Leif Ericsson found on the continent. They were travelling back and forth a few times when sailing from Iceland to Greenland, and overshot accidentally. For that matter the individuals that were here previously are sort of forgotten. And since I’m on a small rant,(not really) I’d like you Cheryl to know, it is OK, you are only passing it on don’t worry. Its good for debate, and regardless all have a right for opinions. I’ll go to reunions if I have the time and or money, and if Labelle gives me a place to crash. Sorry Mark. CG.
Deborah Booth • Jun 15, 2020 at 1:38 PM
I feel like they are erasing a bit of my past and I didn’t give anyone permission to do so!! Rename the track and field after Archie. I think that would be
more appropriate.
Donna Swearingin • Jun 13, 2020 at 12:42 PM
All my life I’ve known Drake as an explorer. Only in the past week have I heard anything about him being a “slave runner”. Just wondering how true this really is. One of those comments said he briefly worked for a slave trader, not that he was one