What once was Jackson Park in the city of Alameda is now an open space without a name.
Workers removed former President Andrew Jackson's name from signs at the park on Thursday, two days after the Alameda City Council voted unanimously to rename it.
Cal State East Bay History Professor and Department Chair Bridget Ford told KCBS Radio that the 19th Century president is controversial.
"The greatest injustice of his presidency is the forced removal of indigenous people from the southeast to the Oklahoma territory," Ford said.
Ford supports renaming the park, and said historians and teachers have been working for decades to include more women and people of color in the mainstream of American history.
"I think if we had a broader fixture in our public spaces of who makes history, who increases equality and justice and the ideals we subscribe to, why, I think that would be all for the good," Ford noted.
A committee of Alameda residents and the Recreation and Parks Department are expected to work together on new name suggestions.
— ARPD (@PlayArpd) July 22, 2020
