George Washington High School is a public high school in Richmond District,

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. In 2011, Washington High was ranked by '' Newsweek's'' Jay Mathews Challenge Index as the 497th best high school in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

History

George Washington High School opened on August 4, 1936 to serve as a secondary school for the people of San Francisco’s Richmond District. The school was built on a budget of $8,000,000, on a site overlooking the

Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Pen ...

. The stadium, auditorium, and gymnasium were added in 1940. The school was formally dedicated on

Armistice Day Armistice Day, later known as Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the United States, is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, Fran ...

1940. The lobby is decorated with murals by

Victor Arnautoff Victor Mikhail Arnautoff (born Uspenovka, Taurida Governorate, Russian Empire, November 11, 1896 – died Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, March 22, 1979) was a Russian-American painter and professor of art. He worked in San Francisco and ...

titled '' Life of Washington'' that were commissioned by the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

in 1936 as part of

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...

projects for public buildings. A student of

Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...

, Arnautoff made the murals in the "

buon fresco Buon fresco () is a fresco painting technique in which alkaline-resistant pigments, ground in water, are applied to wet plaster. It is distinguished from the fresco-secco (or ''a secco'') and finto fresco techniques, in which paints are applied t ...

" style, depicting scenes from the life of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

. Intended to teach students about the realities of history, the murals include representations of Black slaves and white indentured servants on Washington's estate. Another mural criticizes the notion of

Manifest Destiny Manifest destiny was a cultural belief in the 19th century in the United States, 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand across North America. There were three basic tenets to the concept: * The special vir ...

and has been criticized for its allegorical depiction of a prostrate Native American. In June 2019, the school board voted to remove the murals. In 1981 the ''

Pacific News Service Pacific News Service (PNS) was an American nonprofit alternative news media organization. PNS ceased operations in 2017. The organization was located in Berkeley, California. History PNS was founded in 1969 by historian and sociologist Fr ...

'' aired a story about race-based

gangs A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...

at George Washington High School. In season five, episode five (1976) of the TV series ''

The Streets of San Francisco ''The Streets of San Francisco'' is a television crime drama filmed on location in San Francisco and produced by Quinn Martin, Quinn Martin Productions, with the first season produced in association with Warner Bros. Television (QM produced the ...

'',

Maureen McCormick Maureen Denise McCormick (born August 5, 1956) is an American actress. She portrayed Marcia Brady on the ABC television sitcom ''The Brady Bunch'', which ran from 1969 to 1974, and reprised the role in several of the numerous ''Brady Bunch'' ...

plays a teenage hooker attending the school. Two scenes show the school and its view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Demographics

2020-2021 According to '' U.S. News & World Report'', 92% of Washington's student body is "of color," with 62% of the student body coming from an economically disadvantaged household, determined by student eligibility for California's

Reduced-price meal Reduced-price meal is a term used in the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, ...

program.

Location

George Washington High School lubamersky

600 32nd Ave, San Francisco, California
George Washington High School's campus is located kitty-corner to Presidio Middle School, also a public school. Facilities include: *3-story academic building *2-story shop building *Auditorium/Theater *Computer Labs *Library *Gymnasium *Track and field *2 Batting cages *Front Toss cage *Bullpen *

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

field/Soccer Field *

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

/multipurpose field *6

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

courts *3 full-sized

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

courts *1 half-sized basketball court

Academics

In 2011, Newsweek ranked George Washington as the 497th best high school in America. The curriculum includes a variety of advanced Visual Performing Arts classes including: Dance Company, Ceramics, Vocal Music, Band and Orchestra, Computer Art and AP Art and Design. There is a computer lab and a Computer Science pathway, plus courses in Robotics. Washington is one of only two San Francisco public high schools with a Marching Band, the other being Phillip & Sala Burton High School. The school is a Newcomer Pathway school that serves recently arrived students from all over the world, primarily from those from China and Latin America. There is also an extensive program for special needs students who comprise about 10% of the student population.

Sports

The George Washington High athletic program is governed by the Academic Athletic Association (AAA) and is sanctioned by the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF). George Washington High School supports 20 varsity, 7 junior varsity, and frosh-soph programs. It is the only San Francisco public high school with Girls and Boys Lacrosse teams. Sports offered include Cross Country, Tennis Girls, Football, Soccer Boys, Volleyball Boys, Golf Girls, Volleyball Girls, Wrestling, Swimming, Badminton, Baseball, Fencing, Softball, Basketball, Boys Lacrosse, Girls Lacrosse, Golf Boys, Tennis Boys, Soccer Girls, Track & Field, and as Cheerleading.

Recent League Championships

2021-2022 Varsity Boys Baseball Champions 2021-2022 All City Wrestling Champions 2019-2020 Girls Varsity Basketball Champions 2015-2016 Boys Varsity Volleyball Champions 2014-2015 Boys Varsity Volleyball Champions 2014-2015 Boys Varsity Golf Champions 2013-2014 Varsity Boys Baseball Runner-Up 2013-2014 JV Girls Basketball City Champions 2012-2013 Frosh-Soph Boys Basketball Champions 2012-2013 Varsity Softball Runner-up 2012-2013 Varsity Boys Baseball Runner-up 2011-2012 Varsity Boys Baseball Trans Bay Champions 2011-2012 Varsity Boys Baseball Champions 2011-2012 Varsity Softball Runner-up 2011-2012 All City Wrestling Champions 2011-2012 Varsity Boys Football Runner-up 2010-2011 Varsity Boys Baseball Champions 2010-2011 Varsity Boys Basketball Champions 2010-2011 Varsity Boys Football Champions 2010-2011 Varsity Girls Golf Runner-up 2009-2010 Varsity Softball Trans Bay Champions 2009-2010 Varsity Softball Champions 2009-2010 All City Badminton Champions 2009-2010 Varsity Girls Soccer Runner-up 2009-2010 All City Wrestling Champions 2009-2010 Varsity Girls Tennis Runner-up 2008-2009 Varsity Boys Golf Champions 2008-2009 JV Boys Basketball Champions 2008-2009 Varsity Boys Baseball Champions 2008-2009 Varsity Softball Runner-up 2008-2009 All City Badminton Runner-up 2008-2009 All City Wrestling Champions 2007-2008 JV Boys Baseball City Champions 2007-2008 Varsity Boys Swimming Champions 2007-2008 Varsity Softball Runner-up 2007-2008 All City Badminton Runner-up 2007-2008 Varsity Boys Golf Champions 2007-2008 JV Girls Basketball City Champions 2007-2008 All City Wrestling Champions 2006-2007 Varsity Boys Swimming Champions 2006-2007 JV Boys Baseball City Champions 2006-2007 All City Badminton Runner-up 2006-2007 Varsity Boys Tennis Runner-up 2006-2007 Varsity Boys Golf Runner-up 2006-2007 Track & Field Runner-up 2005-2007 Varsity Baseball Transbay champions 2005-2006 Varsity Baseball City Champions 2005-2006 Varsity Boys Volleyball Champions 2004-2005 Fencing City Champions 2003-2004 Varsity Football Champions 2001-2006 5 in a row Softball All City Champions 2001-2002 All City Badminton Champions 2000-2001 Varsity Football Champions 2000-2001 Varsity Baseball Champions 2000-2001 All City Badminton Champions 1999-2000 Varsity Football Champions 1999-2001 Varsity Girls Basketball Champions 1995 Varsity Boys' Volleyball 2nd Place Source

Washington Hymn

The Washington Hymn is the official song of George Washington High School. It was written by student Tillie Miesles, class of 1937.

Notable alumni

* Diane Amos, Pine-Sol lady *

Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, popular poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and ...

, author and poet, awarded the Spingarn Medal, the

National Medal of Arts The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and Patronage, patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and ar ...

, and the

Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merito ...

Marty Balin Martyn Jerel Buchwald (January 30, 1942 – September 27, 2018), known as Marty Balin (), was an American singer, songwriter, and musician best known as the founder/leader and one of the lead singers and songwriters of Jefferson Airplane and ...

, former lead singer of the Jefferson Starship * Josiah Beeman, US Ambassador * Gene Brown, basketball player *

Phillip Burton Phillip Burton (June 1, 1926 – April 10, 1983) was an American politician and attorney who served as a United States representative from California from 1964 until his death in 1983. A Democrat, he was instrumental in creating the Golden Gate ...

, Congressman *

Rosemary Casals Rosemary "Rosie" Casals (born September 16, 1948) is an American former professional tennis player. Casals earned her reputation as a rebel in the tennis world when she began competing in the early 1960s. During a tennis career that spanned mor ...

, professional tennis player *

Ann Curtis Ann Cuneo (March 6, 1926 – June 26, 2012) was an American competition swimmer and two-time Olympic champion. Ann Elisabeth Curtis was born in San Francisco, California, and began swimming at the age of 9 under the teaching of nuns while she ...

, Three time USA swimming medalist, 1948 Summer Olympics, winning two Golds in the 400 meter freestyle & 4 X 100 freestyle relay, and a Silver in the 100 meter freestyle *

Dorothy Delasin Dorothy Delasin (born August 26, 1980) is a Filipino-American professional golfer on the LPGA Tour. Delasin was born in Lubbock, Texas. She grew up in San Francisco, California, where, as a student at Washington High, she won the boys' golf ch ...

, golfer *

Keith Fowler Keith Franklin Fowler (born February 23, 1939) is an American actor, director, producer, and educator. He is a professor emeritus of drama and former head of directing in the Drama Department of the Claire Trevor School of the Arts of the Univer ...

, actor, director, producer, educator *

Danny Glover Danny Lebern Glover (; born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, film director, and political activist. He is widely known for his lead role as Roger Murtaugh in the ''Lethal Weapon'' film series. He also had leading roles in his films include ...

, actor * Ross Giudice, basketball player & coach * Steve Gray, basketball player *

Richard Hongisto Richard Duane Hongisto (December 16, 1936, Bovey, Minnesota – November 4, 2004, San Francisco, California) was a businessman, politician, sheriff, and police chief of San Francisco, California, and Cleveland, Ohio. Early life and educat ...

, politician *

Serhiy Kandaurov Serhiy Viktorovych Kandaurov ( ua, Сергі́й Ві́кторович Кандау́ров; born 2 February 1972) is a Ukrainian retired footballer who played as a midfielder. A Ukrainian international from eight seasons, he amassed Israel C ...

, footballer *

Leo Krupnik Leonid "Leo" Krupnik (, , ; born July 15, 1979 in Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine, Khmelnytskyi) is a Ukrainians, Ukrainian-born United States, American-Israeli former soccer player and current soccer coach. He played college soccer at the Universit ...

(born 1979),

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

-born American-

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i former soccer player and current soccer coach *

Rachel Kushner Rachel Kushner (born 1968) is an American writer, known for her novels ''Telex from Cuba'' (2008), ''The Flamethrowers'' (2013), and '' The Mars Room'' (2018). Early life Kushner was born in Eugene, Oregon, the daughter of two Communist scientists ...

, writer, novelist *

Amanda Lassiter Amanda Lassiter (born June 9, 1979, in San Francisco, California) is an American professional women's basketball player with the Chicago Sky of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Amanda Lassiter graduated from Commodore Sloat Scho ...

, basketball player in the WNBA * Marcio Lassiter, basketball player in the Philippines *

Gilman Louie Gilman Louie (born 1960) is an American technology venture capitalist who got his start as a video game designer and then co-founded and ran the CIA venture capital fund In-Q-Tel. With his company Nexa Corporation he designed and developed multipl ...

, technologist *

Richard Lui Richard Lui is an American journalist and news anchor for MSNBC and NBC News. Lui is currently a breaking news anchor for NBC and MSNBC, broadcasting from 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. prior to that role he was a co-h ...

, news anchor for

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

Alec Mapa Alejandro "Alec" Mapa (; born July 10, 1965) is an American actor, comedian and writer. He got his first professional break when he was cast to replace B. D. Wong for the role of Song Liling in the Broadway production of ''M. Butterfly''. He gaine ...

, writer, comedian and actor *

Hal March Hal March (born Harold Mendelson; April 22, 1920 – January 19, 1970) was an American comedian, actor, and television quiz show Master of ceremonies, emcee. Early career March entered show business as a straight man in the vaudeville act the ...

, 1950s television personality *

Del Martin Dorothy Louise Taliaferro "Del" Martin (May 5, 1921 – August 27, 2008) and Phyllis Ann Lyon (November 10, 1924 – April 9, 2020) were an American lesbian couple known as feminist and gay-rights activists. Martin and Lyon met in 1950 ...

, lesbian activist *

Johnny Mathis John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standard music, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum s ...

, singer, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award *

Ollie Matson Ollie Genoa Matson II (May 1, 1930 – February 19, 2011) was an American Olympic medal winning sprinter and professional American football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) from 1952 to 1966. Drafted into the N ...

, member of College and Pro Football Halls of Fame, Olympic gold and bronze medalist * Sean McGrath, musician, artist *

Lee Meriwether Lee Ann Meriwether (born May 27, 1935) is an American actress, former model, and the winner of the Miss America 1955 pageant. She has appeared in many films and television shows, notably as Betty Jones, the title character's secretary and daught ...

, model, actress, and

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...

Nathan Oliveira Nathan Oliveira (December 19, 1928 – November 13, 2010) was an American painter, printmaker, and sculptor, born in Oakland, California to immigrant Portuguese parents. Since the late 1950s, Oliveira has been the subject of nearly one hundred ...

, artist *

Betty Ong Betty Ann Ong (; February 5, 1956 – September 11, 2001) was an American flight attendant aboard American Airlines Flight 11, the first airplane hijacked during the September 11 attacks. Ong was the first person to alert authorities to the hi ...

, flight attendant on 9/11 jet

American Airlines Flight 11 American Airlines Flight 11 was a domestic passenger flight that was hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists on September 11, 2001 as part of the September 11 attacks. Lead hijacker Mohamed Atta deliberately crashed the plane into the North Tower ...

San Quinn Quincy Brooks IV (born October 24, 1977), better known by his stage name San Quinn, is an American rapper from San Francisco, California. He is the cousin of Messy Marv, Stevie Johnson, and Ya Boy. Early life Brooks was born in Oakland, Calif ...

, rap artist *

John Rothmann John Francis Rothmann (born 1949) is an American talk radio host on KGO in San Francisco. Political and academic career Rothmann has a B.A. in political science (1970) and M.A. in teaching (1971) from Whittier College. He has worked for many pol ...

, talk radio host *

Jim Sochor Jim Sochor (February 11, 1938 – November 23, 2015) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at the University of California, Davis from 1970 to 1988 during which time comp ...

, former college football head coach, UC Davis (1970-1988). * Phil Smith, NBA player *

Gregg Turkington Gregg Turkington (born November 25, 1967) is an Australian-born American entertainer, actor, musician and writer. He is known for his performances as Neil Hamburger, a stand-up comedian persona he developed in the 1990s. Alongside Tim Heidecker, ...

, comedian *

Paul Vixie Paul Vixie is an American computer scientist whose technical contributions include Domain Name System (DNS) protocol design and procedure, mechanisms to achieve operational robustness of DNS implementations, and significant contributions to open ...

, internet pioneer (''

sendmail Sendmail is a general purpose internetwork email routing facility that supports many kinds of mail-transfer and delivery methods, including the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) used for email transport over the Internet. A descendant of the ...

'', ''

BIND BIND () is a suite of software for interacting with the Domain Name System (DNS). Its most prominent component, named (pronounced ''name-dee'': , short for ''name daemon''), performs both of the main DNS server roles, acting as an authoritative ...

'' and ''

PAIX ''Paix'' is the fourth studio album by French singer Catherine Ribeiro and her third with the band Alpes. It was originally released in 1972 by Philips Records. The album integrates the group's original folk-oriented sound within the progr ...

'') *

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, artist * Al Young (dragster driver), world champion drag racer *

Connie Young Yu Connie Young Yu (born June 19, 1941) is a Chinese American writer, activist, historian, and lecturer. She has written and contributed to many articles and books, notably including ''Profiles in Excellence: Peninsula Chinese Americans'', ''China ...

, writer, historian, lecturer

Arnautoff murals controversy

In June 2019 the San Francisco Unified School District Board of Education voted to destroy 13 murals made in 1936 by

for the George Washington High School, a

project funded through

support for unemployed artists during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. The works have come under criticism for the realistic depiction of the African-American slaves and white indentured servants that

had on his

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...

estate. Another mural, intended as a criticism of

, depicts in an allegorical manner four pioneers who tread over and beside a dead Native American. In 1974 the school added three murals by artist Dewey Crumpler to assuage complaints and Crumpler argues that the students at that time issued an apology for failing to understand the meaning of the works and the devices used by Arnautoff to convey the realities of history. The proposed destruction has received national attention. Preservation of the murals has garnered broad support. The

College Art Association The College Art Association of America (CAA) is the principal organization in the United States for professionals in the visual arts, from students to art historians to emeritus faculty. Founded in 1911, it "promotes these arts and their understa ...

has supported the murals, and an open letter demanding the preservation of the murals was signed by 400 prominent scholars and artists, including Wendy Brown,

Judith Butler Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American philosopher and gender theorist whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In 1993, Butler ...

, T.J. Clark,

Jodi Dean Jodi Dean (born April 9, 1962) is an American political theorist and professor in the Political Science department at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in New York state. She held the Donald R. Harter ’39 Professorship of the Humanities and So ...

Carol Duncan Carol Greene Duncan is a Marxist-feminist scholar known as a pioneer of ‘new art history’, a social-political approach to art, who is recognized for her work in the field of Museum Studies, particularly her inquiries into the role that muse ...

Nancy Fraser Nancy Fraser (; born May 20, 1947) is an American philosopher, critical theorist, feminist, and the Henry A. and Louise Loeb Professor of Political and Social Science and professor of philosophy at The New School in New York City.Jadžić, Milo� ...

Hal Foster Harold Rudolf Foster, FRSA (August 16, 1892 – July 25, 1982) was a Canadian-American comic strip artist and writer best known as the creator of the comic strip '' Prince Valiant''. His drawing style is noted for its high level of draftsmanship ...

Michael Fried Michael Martin Fried (born April 12, 1939 in New York City) is a modernist art critic and art historian. He studied at Princeton University and Harvard University and was a Rhodes Scholar at Merton College, Oxford. He is the J.R. Herbert Boone Pr ...

David Harvey David W. Harvey (born 31 October 1935) is a British-born Marxist economic geographer, podcaster and Distinguished Professor of anthropology and geography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). He received his P ...

, Andrew Hemingway,

Fredric Jameson Fredric Jameson (born April 14, 1934) is an American literary critic, philosopher and Marxist political theorist. He is best known for his analysis of contemporary cultural trends, particularly his analysis of postmodernity and capitalism. James ...

Joyce Kozloff Joyce Kozloff (born 1942) is an American artist whose politically engaged work has been based on cartography since the early 1990s. Kozloff was one of the original members of the Pattern and Decoration movement and was an early artist in the 1970 ...

Lucy Lippard Lucy Rowland Lippard (born April 14, 1937) is an American writer, art critic, activist, and curator. Lippard was among the first writers to argue for the " dematerialization" at work in conceptual art and was an early champion of feminist art. S ...

Walter Benn Michaels Walter Benn Michaels (born 1948) is an American literary theorist and author whose areas of research include American literature (particularly 19th-century to 20th-century), Critical Theory, identity politics, and visual arts. Known for challen ...

Adolph Reed Jr. Adolf (also spelt Adolph or Adolphe, Adolfo and when Latinised Adolphus) is a given name used in German-speaking countries, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Flanders, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Latin America and to a lesser extent in vari ...

Martha Rosler Martha Rosler (born 1943) is an American artist. She is a conceptual artist who works in photography and photo text, video, installation, sculpture, and performance, as well as writing about art and culture. Rosler's work is centered on everyday ...

, Anne M. Wagner, Allan Wallach as well as

Rocco Landesman Rocco Landesman (born July 20, 1947) is a long-time Broadway theatre producer. He served as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts from August 2009 to December 2012. He is a part owner of Jujamcyn Theaters. Early life Landesman was bor ...

, former Chairman for the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

. San Francisco Heritage, a non-profit devoted to preserving the city's artistic and architectural legacy, proposed the school be designated a

historic landmark A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been rec ...

on the basis of this and other features.

Alice Walker Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker (born February 9, 1944) is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist. In 1982, she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which she was aw ...

, whose daughter attended the school, suggested that explanations be added to provide context: “If you cover things up, the danger is that you will end up in the same place again, and you won’t even recognize it.” Robert W. Cherny, an authority on the work Arnautoff, argued at a 2018 SFUSD Board of Education meeting that Arnautoff was very consciously representing slavery and genocide in an effort to counter the storybook representations of Washington that students were taught in the 1930s. The school's Alumni Association supports the murals, as do the majority of students. Among the other groups who defend the murals are the

California College of the Arts California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996 it opened a second campus in Sa ...

, the

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...

, the United Public Workers for Action, the National New Deal Preservation Association, and the

National Coalition Against Censorship The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), founded in 1974, is an alliance of 50 American non-profit organizations, including literary, artistic, religious, educational, professional, labor, and civil liberties groups. NCAC is a New York-bas ...

. On September 24, 2021, the San Francisco Superior Court determined that the SFUSD School Board had violated California environmental law and required that the School Board void its unlawful actions to destroy or cover over the historic Arnatutoff murals.

References

External links

George Washington High School Online
School Website
George Washington High School Alumni Association
Alumni Association Website
WPA murals and sculpture at George Washington High School
from the New Deal Art Registry *George Washington High School History Websit

{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington High Public high schools in San Francisco San Francisco Unified School District schools Richmond District, San Francisco Educational institutions established in 1936 1936 establishments in California