Wilson High School To Be Renamed

Portland, Ore – A high school in Portland will be renamed after one of five history-making Black women chosen as finalists by a committee of students, educators and community members. The committee has suggested the names of Harriet Wilson, Ida B. Wells, Sojourner Truth, Mercedes Deiz, and Beatrice Morrow Cannaday.  The renaming effort began in September after intense pressure from students and alumni at multiple Portland schools in the wake of a mass movement against racial injustice spurred by the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed by police in Minneapolis. Activists have long called for the renaming of Woodrow Wilson High, in particular, as its namesake instituted segregation in federal government agencies and was an ally of the Ku Klux Klan.