Native and Investor-led Advocacy to Change the Washington Football Team’s Name: A Timeline
For over fifty years, combined action on the frontlines, in courtrooms, in boardrooms and on the corporate floor advocated for the retirement of the Washington Football Team’s racist name and logo. In July 2020, the team announced the change.
As the team gears up to announce its new name on February 2, the following timeline highlights key moments of Native-led advocacy and investor and shareholder engagement that brought the change.
(Note: the Washington team’s former name is a dictionary defined racial slur with a history of degrading context, and is represented as “R–––s” when used on the timeline.)
Name Origins, Early Engagement by Native Leaders, Mass Protests
1933
Owner George Preston Marshall renamed the Washington team from ‘Braves’ to ‘R–––s’, beginning a legacy of anti-Native bias and race-based conflict. The team was the last in the NFL to desegregate, and in 2020 Marshall's visage and name was removed from facilities and the team’s website after national calls for racial justice.
1967
The team secured its first federal trademark registration, and in 1971 debuted the circle-with-two-feathers logo that would be in use until 2020. A caricature of a Native American man was added into the logo in 1982.
1968
The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) established a campaign “to eliminate negative stereotypes of Native peoples in popular culture,” with a concerted 25-year action plan to push the Washington team to voluntarily change its name.
1972
Eleven Native leaders met with team president Edward Bennett Williams to request ending the use of a "derogatory racial epithet" as the team name. Among them were community advocate LaDonna Harris of the Americans for Indian Opportunity and Seneca Nation advocate Laura Wittstock, as well as representatives from the NCAI, American Indian Movement, American Indian Press Association, and Indian Legal Development Service in Washington.
The group asked the team to sponsor a campaign to procure a new name and “actively encourage other professional sports organizations to cease the use of similar stereotypes degrading America’s Indian people.” When Williams complained about the cost of a name change, Wittstock said, “You’ve made money off this Indian stereotype for years, and we refuse to accept this kind of argument now. Any corporation that finds something wrong with its public relations or public image does not hesitate to change… Any commercial use of a race of people can’t be glorification.”
1992
Public action by Native leaders and allies escalated over the years, culminating in some 3,000 people protesting Super Bowl XXVI, where the Washington team played the Buffalo Bills.
“We welcome all you good Washington football fans, but we don't welcome the chicken feathers, the paint, the cheap Hollywood chants,” said Vernon Bellecourt, a leader of the American Indian Movement. “The war paint is for our great ceremonies, our very sacred and revered ceremonies. When you put the paint on your face, you dishonor us and you dishonor yourself.”
That same year, community leader Suzan Harjo led seven Native plaintiffs to petition the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board to cancel the disparaging trademarks. The case, Pro-Football, Inc. v. Harjo, set off a series of high profile legal actions that continued until 2017.
Legal Wins and Losses, Investors and Shareholders Engage Sponsors
1999
The R–––s’ trademarks were canceled after judges ruled that the name and logo violated the Lanham Act, which prohibits any trademark that disparages “persons, living or dead… or bring them into contempt, or disrepute.” The decision was appealed by the Washington team.
2005
An appeals court ruled in favor of the Washington team due to laches, i.e. that the plaintiffs were over age limitations for legal recourse. Harjo et al. appealed to the Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case in 2009.
The same year, the American Psychological Association called for “immediate retirement of all American Indian mascots, symbols, images and personalities by schools, colleges, universities, athletic teams and organizations… based on a growing body of social science literature that shows the harmful effects of racial stereotyping and inaccurate racial portrayals, including the particularly harmful effects of American Indian sports mascots on the social identity development and self-esteem of American Indian young people.” Read the full resolution.
2006
A new trademark case, Blackhorse v. Pro-Football, Inc., launched with lead plaintiff Amanda Blackhorse, whose age fell within the parameters of the legal timeline for appeals.
That same year, founding members of the newly formed Investors & Indigenous Peoples Working Group (IIPWG), including Oneida Nation Trust director Susan White, prioritized engagement with sponsors of the Washington team as a pillar of their advocacy.
2009
IIPWG submitted its first shareholder proposal to FedEx, the corporate sponsor with naming rights for the team's stadium. While yearly proposals weren’t granted a floor presentation until 2015, White was invited to meet with FedEx CEO Fred Smith in 2014.
2014
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office again terminated the R–––s’ trademarks. An appeal by the Washington team was moving through the courts, when, in 2017, the Supreme Court’s decision on Matal v. Tam – which allows racist and disparaging language to be trademarked under free speech – rendered Blackhorse’s case moot.
2015
Susan White was invited to give a shareholder floor presentation to FedEx. “We are the only race of people dehumanized by an NFL team,” she told the company. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission blocked a proposal in 2016. White continued to engage the company until her untimely death in 2018.
National Calls for Racial Justice and Investor Action Culminates in the Team Name Retirement
2020
May: After the murder of George Floyd and other Black citizens by law enforcment, calls for racial justice resounded from the public. Corporations and sports franchises, including the Washington team, made pledges to stand for racial justice.
June: IIPWG gathered signatures from investors with cumulative assets of more than $620 billion on letters to team sponsors FedEx, Nike and PepsiCo, asking the companies to end business relations unless the racist name was changed. The action was steered by longtime IIPWG participants Oneida Trust, Trillium Asset Management, Boston Trust Walden, Boston Common Asset Management, First Affirmative Financial Network, Mercy Investments, and First Peoples Worldwide.
July: FedEx issued a statement on July 2 in support of the name change, and overnight NIKE removed all R–––s apparel from its online store, after which PepsiCo, Bank of America and NIKE issued statements in support of the name change. Retailers Walmart and Target, Dick's Sporting Goods and Amazon.com subsequently dropped all Washington team merchandise. IIPWG responded with a call for the team to invite Native leaders into the review process and address “all hurtful words, imagery and stereotypes, including the logo and mascot."
Native leaders sent a letter to the NFL commissioner on July 6, requesting immediate action to change the name and to include Native peoples and perspectives in the review process. Over 1,400 people signed the letter representing hundreds of tribal entities and Native-led organizations. The consensus: remove all Native mascots and imagery from sports.
On July 13, the team announced it would retire its name and logo, and on July 23 adopted ‘Washington Football Team’ as its interim moniker, with a stylized “W” as its logo.
“This is part of a much larger movement going on that Indigenous peoples are situated in, and it is a long time coming,” Carla Fredericks, a member of IIPWG and then director of First Peoples Worldwide told The New York Times. “I think that for anyone that is associated with the movement for racial justice this is a significant gain, and this is a significant moment.”
2022
The team rebranded as the Washington Commanders. In a statment recognizing the decades-long Native-led action to change the name, IIPWG said, “the team’s action demonstrates a clear pathway forward for other teams with discriminatory names and logos. We recommend that these teams consult with Native peoples and organizations in their deliberation for the name changes, and we encourage the Commanders to take active steps to drive reparative and collaborative work with impacted Native peoples, as well as continued work with the fan community to uphold the rights, dignity, and welfare of all people. “
Amanda Blackhorse, writing in the Washington Post, called for remedy and reconciliatory action from the team and the NFL:
“For us to really celebrate and call this new name progress, we need something different from the NFL and the Washington team. We need you to acknowledge your damage. We need you to repair it. And we need for you to never harm our communities again.”
Change Continues to Ripple in Sports and Beyond
Since the Washington team’s retirement of its name, positive change has rippled throughout the U.S. and beyond. The Major League Baseball team in Cleveland changed their name, as did the Canadian Football League team in Edmonton; over 100 schools of more than 2000 in the U.S. have retired similar names and mascots; twenty U.S. states have taken or are considering taking formal actions to address derogatory names and mascots; and corporate action to eliminate racist branding is on the rise.
With each instance of positive change, the psychological harm and perpetuation of historical trauma diminishes. Native youth can participate in sports more fully without fear of being mocked and harmed, and can join and enjoy community sporting events without reticence and with pride in community.
The Washington team’s rebranding affirms the critical importance for sports franchises to eliminate anti-Native bias and address systemic racism. It also shows a pathway forward for other professional teams, such as the Kansas City football team, the Atlanta baseball team, and the Chicago hockey team to make the necessary changes. Until such a time, measures and accountability throughout the leagues are necessary to ban racist fan behavior – such as stereotyping costumes, mocking chants, and derogatory language – to ensure safe participation from Native fans and all spectators.
Images (top to bottom): The New York Times sports section cover article, July 13, 2020; protests at the 1992 Super Bowl via MPR News; Suzan Harjo via Indian Country Today; Amanda Blackhorse via C-Span; Susan White via ESPN; timeline illustration by Chloe Hough.