Two proposals presented to the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners on Tuesday night would name parts of a high school and the school district’s art gallery after prominent Black scientists and artists.

Because Bluford Drew Jemison STEM Academy and the Augusta Fells Savage Institute for Visual Arts merged last fall, school administrators want to find names to honor the legacies of both original schools, said Lindsey Anderson, a manager of City Schools’ Office of New Initiatives, during a presentation to the board.

Now under the banner of the Augusta Fells Savage Institute for Visual Arts, the high school’s community is considering adding names to spaces within the building to reflect the science, technology, engineering and math focus of Bluford Drew Jemison STEM Academy, said Anderson.

Astronaut Guion Bluford, the first African American in space; Mae Jemison, the first African American woman in space; and Charles Drew, a surgeon known as the “father of the blood bank,” are all naming options for the school’s spaces, Anderson presented.

The naming options will be discussed within the school by a naming committee, forum and student government. In late April, the students and school community will vote on the names before the school board can vote on the final name changes on May 27, she said.

Another name request presented Tuesday night was for the school district’s central office art gallery. The school system is considering five Black Baltimore art world figures to honor, according to a presentation by Kendra R. Banks, another manager in the Office of New Initiatives.

Potential honorees include muralist and City Schools educator Ernest Shaw Jr., sculptor and educator Valerie Maynard, museum founder James E. Lewis, beadwork artist Joyce J. Scott and curator Jacqueline “Jackie” Copeland, Banks said.

Voting for the new name began in January via a Google Form but continues until April 25. The original deadline was March 21 but was extended, Banks said. The school board will vote on the final name May 27.

Celebrating these figures comes at a time when diversity, equity and inclusion programs in schools are under fire. The Trump administration, which issued an executive order banning DEI programs, issued a letter in February threatening school systems with the loss of federal funding should they continue such initiatives. The deadline in that letter has since passed.

Maryland Superintendent Carey Wright advised school districts across the state that those letters didn’t “carry the weight of law,” Maryland Matters reported. Other school systems, including colleges and universities nationwide, were also skeptical, according to the Associated Press.

The state and federal departments of education did not respond to requests for comment.

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