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Update on Neighborhood Name Change Process: Survey Results

Following the March 18th deadline to respond to the survey about the neighborhood name, Agassiz Baldwin Community (ABC) and Cambridge Community Development (CDD) staff pulled and analyzed results that Phoebe Sinclair, Community Liaison and facilitator for ANC, presented at the April 13th meeting.

In her presentation, Ms. Sinclair included the language of both the January 2020 ANC vote and the February 2020 City Council policy order regarding the community process to arrive at a new neighborhood name.

She then shared an updated list of tensions that arose during the process. The new additions included the challenges of coordination, education, outreach, and timing during a pandemic, and the concern about neutrality of the community center team, and what is meant when concerns are raised about bias. 

After providing some context about the process and a brief overview of its overall timeline, Ms. Sinclair shared the following results from the survey:

Of the 447 total respondents, 88.4% said they are in favor of changing the name, 7.2% said they are not, and 4.5% said they are unsure.

385 offered a preference for a new name, and of those, three options received more than 10% of the vote: Maria L. Baldwin, Baldwin Neighborhood, Maria Baldwin Neighborhood

The next section of results broke down the numbers based on demographics:

Of those living in the neighborhood, 81.82% want to rename. Of those living outside the neighborhood, 97.03% want to rename.

Of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color)-identifying people, 95.37% want to rename

Of white-identifying people, 90.72% want to rename

69.8% of respondents identified as a woman or a girl, 4.21% of respondents identified as genderqueer or nonbinary, 25.5% of respondents identified as a man or a boy

12% of respondents identified as under 18, 33.5% as 18-24 years old, 11.5% as 25-34, 7.6% as 35-44, 9.56% as 45-54, 9.31% as 55-64, and 16.42% as 65+

80.12% of Agassiz neighborhood resident respondents age 25 and older indicated they would like to change the neighborhood name.

If you look at just 55 and older (still just neighborhood residents), that figure is 74.12%.

Following the results, Ms. Sinclair also shared some common themes she observed from the open-ended “comments” section of the survey:

Interest in a shorter name

Concern about “erasing history”

Pride and respect for Maria L. Baldwin

Concern about naming the neighborhood for a person (versus a geographic name). 

Concern about over-identifying with the Baldwin School and a contrasting desire to keep the school and neighborhood names connected 

Lots of strong feelings (and one book recommendation)

Appreciation for the conversation and effort, and also consternation 

After her presentation, Ms. Sinclair first invited the working group consisting of ABC and CDD staff, and neighborhood residents Maya Counter and Kate Frank, to share their experiences and thoughts about the process.

“I am concerned about the desire to honor Louis Agassiz’s scientific legacy because his legacy is rooted in racism and white supremacy,” Ms. Counter shared.

“If the neighborhood had no name, and we had to select a name, we would never select the name of someone who had a racist history,” Ms. Frank said.

“This was a really interesting and difficult process to be part of,” Daniel Wolf, Neighborhood Planner from CDD, said. “We all felt the tension, pulled between the desire to clearly surface to the broader community what is at stake, the issue raised with Agassiz’s legacy, and not wanting to put our thumb on the scale.” 

He shared that the team spent a lot of time creating a process to be as inclusive as possible as well as finalizing the language on the flyer and survey, and that while the process, language or framing weren’t perfect, the final product came from a considerable amount of time and intention. 

Maria LaPage, ABC Executive Director, shared that she was in awe of Ms. Counter, who she said was “bold and brave enough to step up” to suggest changing the neighborhood name back in January of 2020 when she was a student at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School.

“Thank you, Maya, for standing up and sticking with us,” she said.

After the team took turns sharing their thoughts, Ms. Sinclair opened the conversation to questions and comments from ANC. To allow enough time for everyone to take a turn speaking, each person was given two minutes for their response. 

Tom Delbanco asked about the percentage of voters who did not reside in the neighborhood, and how the number of flyers distributed compared to the response rate. 

“I am very pleased about how many young people responded,” he added. He also said that he wished the names had been ordered alphabetically, instead of chronologically, as he thought having Baldwin at the top of the list could be perceived as a bias. 

He also shared that he was surprised about the number of respondents who did not live in the neighborhood. 

“I think it’s wrong to say that 450 people or so want to change the name and not differentiate among them.”

Mr. Wolf shared that CDD flyered between 97-100% of the neighborhood population. He estimated that one person out of every 12-15 households responded to the survey, an estimation he arrived at based on there being 3,500 total households in the neighborhood and, on average, 2-4 people per household.

“We didn’t get 80% of the residents to speak up, but we got a greater portion of the populous that speaks up in any kind of process,” he said.

“What we saw we felt was a pretty good response rate,” Ms. Sinclair added.

“I thought the flyer was going to be the survey,” Richard Goldstein said. “The flyer was clearly one point of view and nothing else, and I was just disappointed.”

“The reason why the flyer looked the way it did is because we couldn’t do a paper survey, so there was the flyer and the digital survey,” Ms. Sinclair responded. “The flyer itself was written based on the context of the January 2020 meeting.” 

“I agree with what Richard said, both about admiring Maya and seeing flaws in the process,” Fred Meyer said. “The whole survey did seem to be biased. It didn’t list on the flyer the various name choices for people to choose from.” 

Mr. Meyer also voiced a concern about survey respondents not being registered voters in the neighborhood.

“Being able to legally vote here was never part of the discussion,” Ms. Sinclair said. “The stakeholders of the neighborhood are all these different groups, like institutions and students in the Baldwin School, and it was never intended to be limited.”  

“One of the first people we heard about when our daughter went to the Agassiz School was Maria L. Baldwin,” said Susan Keane. “Our daughter participated in a play about Maria Baldwin, and I just felt that this neighborhood was fortunate enough to have Ms. Baldwin.”

“I just think we are so fortunate to have a remarkable person to name our neighborhood for,” she added.

“How were we able to survey those who didn’t live in the neighborhood?” Skip Schiel asked.

“It wasn’t the initial intention to go outside the neighborhood,” Ms. Sinclair said. “We didn’t ask people necessarily, but people who knew about it, who come through Agassiz for various reasons, took the survey. There was potential for a broader reach because of Harvard, Lesley, and other institutions who are here.” 

“I don’t think we need to talk about things that were wonderful about Agassiz,” Jill Delbanco said. “Nobody is denying that he had positive contributions, but the fact that he had negative contributions.” 

“I want to thank you and your team for being inclusive of everyone in the neighborhood, and including people who work here,” said Jennie Wood, an employee of the Academy of Arts and Sciences on Irving Street.

Following comments from ANC, Ms. Sinclair said that the next step in the process would be to present the survey results, and possibly a recommendation for a new name, to the City Council. She invited Ms. Counter to speak on that first, since she originally brought this conversation to ANC. 

“I hope we can get this to the City Council soon, because this is long overdue,” Ms. Counter said. 

Mr. Delbanco suggested using the language from the slide deck that Ms. Sinclair created to present the results, while making it clear that it’s not an official recommendation. 

“It should be said with warmth and thoughtfulness about being inclusive, which I think is totally appropriate,” Ms. Delbanco said. 

Mr. Wolf shared that his department is planning to submit its own letter to the City Council about the process from their perspective, focusing on the data and a summary of the process. 

“I would think that we would like to submit that communication in parallel with the communication from ANC so that it lands on the City Council’s agenda at the same time, so if they choose to discuss it, they’ll have both points of communication.” 

Ms. Sinclair noted that there was no intention for consensus, but rather to “hear the voices, get people to respond, and connect to this issue and figure out where people’s energy lies.” 

“We don’t need 100 percent consensus to describe how the issue arose with us, what we did with it, and the tensions I described early on,” she added. “I think all of those pieces can be contained.”

She also added that she could put what was described in a letter to City Council, and it will not act as a vote but will “contain the complexity of the discussion and the reason it began.”

“If there’s going to be some sort of coordination between our report or Daniel’s report, we should present them at the same time, and we should see when the City Council has availability on their agenda,” Ms. Frank said. 

Mr. Goldstein shared that he thought it was important to note that 447 respondents replied out of 5,000 or so total residents. 

“I just want to reiterate that we got an excellent response,” Mr. Wolf said. “People are busy, and we put a random flyer on their doorstep. They have every reason to ignore it, and getting that many responses from a limited pool of people is an achievement. The numbers within those responses are very overwhelming in a single direction, and I don’t want the magnitude of those numbers to be off-scale or get lost.”

To conclude the conversation, Ms. Sinclair said that, while she doesn’t have specific next steps in mind beyond preparing a letter for the City Council, she is aware that neighborhood residents may want to continue talking or learning about this in some way.

“We can start thinking about what a next step connected to this effort might look like,” she said.

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Op-ed by Mayor Siddiqui and Councilor Simmons on Agassiz neighborhood name change. Cambridge Chronicle, 5/3/21

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Video statement by Emane, Baldwin School student

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Statements by Baldwin School Students (continued)

Lukas “because Agassiz was vary VARY raisis. it should be renames to "Maria Baldwin" NOT Agassiz, because Agassiz was raisis, and she (Maria Baldwin) was a woman of color. so I think that the School has been renamed, (from Agassiz to Baldwin) so why can't they do the same to the neighborhood!”

Phineas “I think that Maria L. Baldwin deserves the Agassiz neighborhood to be named after her is that so many neiberhoods are named by men speficlly white men and if a neiborhood in Cambridge is named after this awesome inspiring black women it would change evreything”

Lenssa “because she was a great principal and she was 1 of the first black principals and so that makes her a little bit original.”

Andrew “I think the neighborhood should be renamed because it is as of right know named after a racist and terrible person”

Sophia “My name is Sophia and l am in 4th grade. I myself think this neighborhood should be named after Maria Baldwin, the first black woman principal in new England. She made history, and people should be respecting and remembering her and a way to do that is my renaming this neighborhood after her.”

Yona “I think that Louis Agassiz was a racist person who may have been important in science class but he was a JERK. EVIL. and I don't like him. plus actually name the neighborhood after someone important that was actually born there.”

Daniela “I want this neighborhood to be named Maria Baldwin because I got to that school.”

Johaan “I think it should be renamed because Maria L. Baldwin was a great woman who achieved great things.”

Peter “Hi! My name is Peter and I'm in 4th grade. I really think that this neighborhood should be renamed to the Maria L. Baldwin neighborhood because she was a powerful and inspiring woman, an she stood up for what she knew was right. renaming this neighborhood from the name of a racist man to a powerful black woman could have a really big impact on us. It would make me proud to be in this community.”

Bennett “because she is better than a single minded fool”

Beckett “I think it should be changed because it is very raises and Maria Baldwin is one of my favorite people.”

Phineas “he was also very racist and he was very hurtful to the black community.”

Eliana “because she worked at baldwin.”

Eliot “I think it should be renamed because it has the name of a racist man that lots of people dont like right now and lots of people dont like him.”

Hugh “because Agassiz was a racist man and especially in a time of racial tension in this country this is just not okay and it would let Cambridge have a bad impression on colored people HOWEVER if we were to name it after Maria Baldwin it would make a great impression on people of color and show some more history of black people in Cambridge that not all people know or see as important.”

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Submitted by Fred Meyer

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Discussion of Name Change Process from 2/9/21

Incorporating feedback from the last Agassiz Neighborhood Council meeting, Phoebe Sinclair, Community Liaison and facilitator for ANC, presented an updated timeline for the neighborhood name change process. 

To introduce the new timeline, Ms. Sinclair reminded ANC of its January 2020 vote, which noted “a strong consensus… in support of a name change,” as well as the February 10th, 2020 City Council Policy Order, that asks City staff to help the neighborhood “make a determination as to how to arrive at an appropriate, official name change.”

As she had in previous meetings where the name changed was discussed, Ms. Sinclair also named specific tensions that have arisen, such as the desire to honor Louis Agassiz’s scientific legacy, the acknowledgement and redress of the harms resulting from racism and white supremacy espoused by Agassiz, and the logistical challenge of reaching and educating a wider audience during a pandemic.

She then shared the new timeline, which is:

January & February 2021: Letters sent to universities, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, nearby religious institutions, Mayor Siddiqui and Councillor Simmons (Council Order originators) were invited to share our outreach with their networks. Residents were re-invited to submit names or material for the digital context library with a new, extended deadline of February 22nd.  March 2021: Cambridge Community Development (CDD) will help flyer the neighborhood, inviting residents to take the survey, which was updated with suggestions from the December 8th ANC meeting. March 18th, 2021: The new deadline to respond to the survey. March & April 2021: ABC will tabulate survey results and report back to ANC and City Council

Ms. Sinclair invited ANC members to get involved by submitting to the context library, sharing that resource with friends and neighbors, and by taking the survey when it’s available in early March.

Comments from ANC

“I’m really anxious to make sure that when you do survey people, that people can look at it and say it was really well done,” said Tom Delbanco, after sharing his concern that the survey wouldn’t feel biased. 

Kate Frank noted that one piece of background not included in Ms. Sinclair’s presentation was the City Council Order, proposed by Councillor Simmons, to evaluate any city property with a name connected to the slave trade. 

“I personally see what we’re about fitting in with that spirit,” she said. “It’s not like we’re doing something random or on our own. It’s part of a bigger effort, and we’re a visible step from the community on that effort.”

Fred Meyer suggested including a question in the survey that would allow respondents to rank their preferences for new name options, and the results would take those rankings into account. 

“I think that proportional representation or counting is very useful when you have a lot of candidates, and a lot of votes,” Mr. Delbanco responded to Mr. Meyer. “My hypothesis is that [from this survey], you’ll have a very clear distinction on who or what wins.” 

Mr. Meyer also shared his concern that City Council could act with inadequate neighborhood input, or without any neighborhood input at all.

“The only way to make sure we have a reasonable number of residents is to have them vote like they did in previous elections,” he said.

Ms. Sinclair clarified that the City Council is looking to the neighborhood for a recommendation, and the survey results would not be a binding vote. 

“The City was brought in as a partner to help spread the word and will do a flyer drop to make sure as many people can see and respond to the survey as possible,” she added. 

“The decision rests with the neighborhood,” Joel Bard said. “If we follow the process as outlined, I’d be shocked if the city didn’t go along with it.”

“We’ve made some pretty important decisions with a lot fewer people than are here tonight,” he added. “Oddly enough, this Zoom setting is helping grow our audience.  I don’t think we’ve ever done [a neighborhood survey], and I think that’s incredible. I think this is a terrific process, and I’m all in favor of it.”

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She changed soo much!! She should be rewarded a LOT.

Zoe, Baldwin School student, age 9, on Maria L. Baldwin

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Video statement by Quinn, a Baldwin School 3rd grade student

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Statements by Baldwin School Students

Haruka I think that the Agassiz neighborhood should be renamed after Maria Baldwin because Baldwin is a great school and also why the Agassiz neighborhood should be renamed is because Maria Baldwin was a Brave woman who should have a neighborhood named after her.

Damian Well, I think so because Maria L. Baldwin accomplished many, many super awesome things.

Jordan I think it should be named after Maria Baldwin because she helped people and protested and she was just a great person

Liliana I think that it should be named after Maria Baldwin because she was a great woman. I learned that she had a hard life being an African American and she still fought to make life better for others. She cared about education, family, and culture and I think the neighborhood should be named after her.

Lydia I think the neighborhood should be named after Maria L. Baldwin because she is an inspiring person. She had a tough life due to racism and she accomplished things that they said black people could not do. She broke through a lot of barriers.

Penelope (Penny) I think the Agassiz neighborhood should be named after Maria Baldwin. The reason i said that is because she did a lot and she fought for her rase and for all black women and men to get equal rights. That is why I want the Agassiz neighborhood to be named after Maria Baldwin.

Nova Hi, My name is Nova. I am in fifth grade and I go to the Maria L. Baldwin school. I think the Agassiz neighborhood should be renamed to the Maria Baldwin neighborhood because Agassiz was not a great person. Maria Baldwin inspires me because of her courage in becoming a principal of color. If the neighborhood was renamed it would make me happy.

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Name Suggestion by Emma Boettcher

I'm writing to give my support to rename the Agassiz neighborhood after Maria Baldwin. I no longer live in the area, but used to, and feel strongly that it should be renamed given Agassiz's racist beliefs. In my opinion, Maria Baldwin would be an ideal person to be given this honor, considering her commitment to education and accomplishments as a civic leader.

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A statement from Heidi Cook, principal of the Baldwin School, on behalf of the school’s faculty and administration 

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A review of Chistoph Irmscher’s biography of Louis Agassiz, by Rebecca Stott for the New York Times (Jan. 31, 2013). Submitted by Fred Meyer

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Name Suggestions

The following is a list of all the new name suggestions we received and who suggested them:

Maria L. Baldwin (originally suggested by Maya Counter)

Harriet Jacobs (anonymous)

Founders, Nations or WEHA (Sophia Maniaci)

The Commons (anonymous)

The Triangle (anonymous)

The following names were submitted by Fred Meyer:

William James’ Neighborhood

The Old Cedar-Swamp Neighborhood

Sacramento Field Neighborhood

Revolutionary-War Headquarters Neighborhood

Oxford St. / Francis Ave. Neighborhood

North of Harvard Neigborhood

Native American Campground Neighborhood

Maria Baldwin’s Neighborhood

Maria Baldwin Neighborhood

Julia Child’s Neighborhood

Harvard & Lesley Neighborhood

Harvard Graduate Schools Neighborhood

Harvard Branch Railroad Neighborhood

General Artemas Ward’s Neighborhood

General Ward’s Campground Neighborhood

Edwin Land’s Endowment Neighborhood

Edith Lesley’s Neighborhood

Baldwin-School Neighborhood

Baldwin Neighborhood

Artemas Ward Neighborhood

Alexander, Elizabeth & Louis Agassiz Neighborhood

Agassiz-Baldwin Neighborhood

Agassiz-Family Neighborhood

Agassiz’s Neighborhood

Agassiz Neighborhood

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A review of Christoph Irmscher’s biography of Louis Agassiz, by James Hanken for Harvard Magazine (May-June 2013). Submitted by Fred Meyer

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Name Suggestion by Sophia Maniaci

As long as we’re trying to eliminate white washing history, let’s go further back to the time the Agassiz neighborhood was neither inhabited by white Europeans or black Africans and return it to it’s truly native Indian roots to honor the catastrophic population loss following sustained contact with Europeans due to disease, enslavement and warfare.  What is now the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, was, is and always will be Indian Country - thousands of Indigenous Peoples from the Massachusett, Nipmuc and Wampanoag tribes historically resided in this area.

Name suggestions

Founders - to honor those Indians who owned this land long before history was re-written.

Nations -  Harvard evolved alongside the persistence of the Massachusett, Nipmuck, and Wampanoag Nations.

OR we can simply provide a geographical marker:

WEHA (Pronounced WEEHAA) - West of Harvard

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Video statement by Kate Frank

(Note: this may redirect you away from this site to vimeo.com)