Washington: ‘blackest name’ in US

Associated Press

George Washington’s name is inseparable from America, and not only from the nation’s history. It identifies countless streets, buildings, mountains, bridges, monuments, cities — and people.

In a puzzling twist, most of these people are black. The 2000 U.S. Census counted 163,036 people with the surname Washington. Ninety percent of them were African- American, a far higher black percentage than for any other common name.

The story of how Washington became the “blackest name” begins with slavery and takes a sharp turn after the Civil War, when all blacks were allowed a surname.

Even before Emancipation, many enslaved black people chose their own surnames. Afterward, some historians theorize, large numbers of blacks chose the name Washington in the process of asserting their freedom.

Today there are black Washingtons who are often identified as African-American by people they have never met. There are white Washingtons who are sometimes misidentified and have felt discrimination. And there remains the presence of George, born 279 years ago Tuesday, whose complex relationship with slavery echoes in the blackness of his name today.

George Washington inherited land and 10 human beings from his father, and gained more of both as he grew older. But over the decades, as he recognized slavery’s contradiction with the freedoms of the new nation, Washington grew opposed to human bondage. Still, “slaves were the basis of his fortune,” and he would not part with them, says Ron Chernow, author of the new biography “Washington: A Life.”

By the standards of the time, Washington was not a harsh slaveowner. In his final years on his Mount Vernon plantation, Washington said that “nothing but the rooting out of slavery can perpetuate the existence of our union.”

This led to extraordinary instructions in his will that all 124 of his slaves should be freed after the death of his wife. Twelve American presidents were slaveowners. Washington is the only one who set all of his black people free.

It’s a myth that most enslaved blacks bore the last name of their owner. Only a handful of George Washington’s hundreds of slaves did, says Mary Thompson, the historian at Mount Vernon.

Many enslaved blacks had surnames that went unrecorded, says historian Henry Wiencek, author of “An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America.”

Last names also could have been plucked out of thin air. Did enslaved people feel inspired by Washington and take his name in tribute? Were they seeking some benefits from the association? Did newly freed people take the name as a mark of devotion to their country?

“We just don’t know,” Weincek says.

Washington was listed 138th when the Census Bureau published the 1,000 most common American surnames from the 2000 survey. The project was not repeated in 2010.

Ninety percent of those Washingtons, numbering 146,520, were black. Five percent, or 8,813, were white. Three percent were two or more races, 1 percent Hispanic, and 1 percent Asian or Pacific Islander.

Many present-day Washingtons are surprised to learn their name is not 1 00 percent black.

Like many others, Shannon Washington of New York City has never met a white Washington. She has no negative feelings about her name and plans on keeping it when she weds.

But what about those white Washingtons?

For the family of 85-year-old Larry Washington, who traces his family tree back to England in the 1700s, the experience has changed.

When he moved to New Jersey in 1962 to teach at a college, his family tried to scout housing over the phone, but nothing was ever available. “When we showed up, there were plenty of houses,” he recalls. After that, he taught his six children to always apply in person.