Embedded Files
2021 Boys' Cross Country runners
From 1969 to 1971, Native American activists held a nineteen-month-long occupation of Alcatraz Island to protest federal Indian assimilation policies
Large numbers of Native Americans moved to cities in the middle decades of the twentieth century. Influenced by the African-American Civil Rights movement, “Red Power” and the American Indian Movement began in the late 1960s. In addition to seeking, then securing more equality for Native Americans and more recognition of the historic and systemic anti-Indian discrimination, the movements have allowed Native Americans to identify commonalities across tribes and led to a revival of Indian languages, cultural practices, and religious ceremonies. Dartmouth College - founded in 1769 to educate Native Americans - became the first university to move away from its “Indian” mascot in 1974. Others such as Syracuse, Stanford, and St. John’s followed in subsequent decades. Some high schools began to change as well.
In Winchester in the late 1990s, the first organized movement developed to move away from using the “Sachem” as the High School’s mascot, led by a WHS graduate and then-current coach of Native American heritage. The School Committee voted to retain the Sachem mascot in February 2000, and a non-binding town referendum the following month supported the continued use of the mascot and logo at a six-to-one ratio.28 Despite the loss, some community members continued to vocalize their opposition to the use of the “Sachem,” including the Network for Social Justice and The Winchester Student Allies for Native Mascot Change (formed in 2019). Simon Donovan, the student artist of 1977 “Sachem” logo, requested that WHS retire his design in 2019. Others saw the “Sachem” as a symbol that honored the “Squaw Sachem” and the local Indians of the past. Most did not think all that deeply about the mascot and its representation of Native American peoples, as its decades-long use had converted that symbol into one of the town’s traditions, passed down from one generation to the next. Few outwardly sought to denigrate Native Americans. Rather, proponents proudly identified the “Sachem” as an honorable example of leadership for students to follow. From 2019 the Massachusetts legislature has had a bill proposed that would prohibit the use of Native American mascots in public schools. In part sponsored by Winchester State Senator Jason Lewis, the bill has yet to pass.29
In July 2020, as the larger national conversation became more aware of racial biases and local opposition to the continued use of the “Sachem” became more widespread, the School Committee voted unanimously to retire the “Sachem.” A committee of community members formed in early 2021 and, based upon community input, decided to use the “Red and Black,” the colors of the former mascot and an earlier name for WHS teams, as Winchester High School’s new mascot.
Winchester High School's present-day mascot: The Red and Black
Page updated
Report abuse