Wilson — or not?

The Vindicator/Robert K. Yosay

CHANGING NAMES? Construction continues on Wilson Middle School on the Youngstown’s South Side. The building is named after Woodrow Wilson, the 28th U.S. president. Some argue the name should be changed, contending the president from Virginia was racist.

A grass-roots group suggests Youngstown schools find a new name for new middle school.

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER

City school LEADERS gave no thought to changing the school name as they razed Woodrow Wilson High School and began construction of Woodrow Wilson Middle School on the same site at Gibson Street and Indianola Avenue in Youngstown.

After all, the school named for the 28th president had existed since 1928, first as a junior high and then as a high school, resulting in a long history and tradition for the school, and the Wilson alumni have proven to be a very loyal group.

Wilson High School closed in 2007 and was torn down as part of a $190 million school rebuilding program. Part of that plan called for it to be replaced by a middle school and keeping the name just seemed to be the natural course, said Lock P. Beachum Sr., vice president and long-time school board member. There was never any suggestion or discussion about changing it, he said.

But such a suggestion has surfaced now.

Gregory Warren of Monticello Boulevard addressed the board recently, saying that Wilson was a confirmed racist and that the district might find a better hero after whom the new school, which will open next fall, should be named.

Warren wasn’t speaking only for himself. He represented the Community High Commission On Closing the Academic Standards Achievement Gap for Afrikan Students in the Youngstown City Schools, a grass roots organization that wants to be an equal partner in the education of its children. The commission has a number of groups in its membership, including the Parent-Student Union, the Afrikan Village of Youngstown and the Muhammad Study Group.

Woodrow Wilson was a very influential and knowledgeable man who received the Nobel Peace Prize, but he was a confirmed racist who, as president of Princeton University, fought against the admission of black students, and, as president of the United States, instituted segregation in the federal government, Warren told the board.

The school district (which has a 69 percent black student enrollment) should pick more appropriate heroes, Warren said, suggesting that the name for the new school was selected without any community input. The board should have public hearings to allow people to offer suggestions, he said.

Anthony Catale, board president, responded that, at this point, the building is under construction with names and colors established, and the time for considering names is past.

However, board member Jacqueline Taylor pointed out that the new West Elementary School had its name changed to William Holmes McGuffey Elementary School after it opened, so a name change “is do-able.”

Catale pointed out that the cost of that name change in terms of signage and other expenses was picked up by the William Holmes McGuffey Historical Society.

Still, if the board wishes, and determines that a name change is feasible for Wilson at this point, it can look at the issue and decide if public hearings are warranted, he said.

Beachum said he had not heard any talk about a name change for the school until Warren addressed the board.

It was just a month ago that he, Catale and other board members had assured some Wilson alumni that there were no discussions about a name change and no name should be changed.

Alumni and former Wilson teachers Joseph Nudo and Howard Friend appeared before the board to offer their gratitude for the district preserving the Wilson War Memorial from the high school and incorporating it in the new middle school.

Both men said at the time that they’d heard some rumors about changing the name of the new school and asked that the Wilson name be retained. It’s in the same location, and, “There is a great allegiance to the school,” Friend said at the time.

Contacted after Warren’s address to the board, both Nudo and Friend said they still prefer that the Wilson name remain. Both men also said they’d never heard Wilson described as a racist and suggested that the school was named after the former president to honor his accomplishments. The name should be kept to recognize Wilson’s achievements and because of the school’s history and tradition, they said.

Warren, who is black, acknowledged that most people probably are unaware of Wilson’s whole story.

Still, “Our heroes should be heroes to us,” he said.

Wilson is perhaps best known for leading the nation through World War I and being awarded the Nobel Peace Price, largely because of his effort to form the League of Nations. He is also credited with tariff reform, the graduated income tax, child labor laws, the eight-hour workday and the Federal Reserve.

He is ranked very highly among American presidents, generally about sixth, said Joel Hodson, director of education at the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library in Staunton, Va., Wilson’s birthplace.

That’s why schools and institutions were named after him, but, he doesn’t have a good record on racial issues, Hodson said.

Wilson, who grew up in the South during the post-Civil War Reconstruction, did appoint a Southern cabinet and allowed racial segregation in departments in his administration, Hodson said.

“He was a man of his time,” he said, suggesting that Wilson reflected the attitudes of most Americans of that time. Still, from today’s viewpoint, he could be viewed as racist, Hodson said.

Some historians agree and have noted the segregation that was allowed to develop under his watch.

The Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, in examining Wilson’s impact and legacy, wrote that Wilson’s zest for humanitarian justice didn’t extend to American blacks and that he accepted segregation in federal government departments and did little to stop the waves of anti-black violence and race riots during his administration.

gwin@vindy.com