SAN DIEGO SAN DIEGO — City and school officials recently approved renaming a park after two Black educators — William Payne, who was the second Black teacher hired by San Diego Unified School District, and Fannie Payne, his wife who also taught at San Diego schools.
The change comes after residents and students of Pacific Beach Middle School spent almost a year lobbying the city and school district to rename the Pacific Beach Middle t Use Field after the teachers because of their courage and dedication to education.
William Payne was hired at Pacific Beach Junior High School — now Pacific Beach Middle School — in 1945, when most schools were racially segregated. His placement at the mostly White school enraged parents, who collected 1,900 names on a petition demanding his removal.
The Virginia native taught at the school for more than a year before moving to San Diego High School, where he taught English for 23 years.
Pacific Beach resident Paige Hernandez said the park’s name change reaffirms the historical presence of Black community in Pacific Beach, and it sends a message that racism will not be tolerated, she said.
“It is a way for community who might be Black and Brown, who live here, to heal and to see that community do care about their existence here,” Hernandez said.
The 82,000-square foot park is located on Diamond Street. It is used by students at Pacific Beach Middle and by residents when school is not in session.
The San Diego Unified School District Board approved the name change in March. The city of San Diego’s Parks and Recreation Board also recently ed the name change.
The residents are waiting on the city to install new signs.
Resident Regina Sinsky-Crosby was moved by Payne’s willingness and courage to stay at the school despite the pushback.
“We have no details of what that was like for him and Fannie, but he stayed,” Sinsky-Crosby said. “And not only did he stay, but he persevered.”
The park, which includes a baseball and soccer field, was chosen because it has been a meeting spot for Black Lives Matter protests, Sinsky-Crosby said.
Sinsky-Crosby and Hernandez launched an online petition in July 2020 to rename the park, known to community as the Pacific Beach Community Park. The petition on Change.org has more than 3,100 signatures as of Thursday.
Nuhamin Woldeyes, an 8th-grader at Pacific Beach Middle, said it feels good knowing that changing the name will make a difference in the community.
“I hope the community will learn and know abut his story,” Woldeyes said.
The group of residents and students plan to raise funds in the coming months to install artwork, or some kind of plaque, that educates the public about the contributions of the educators.
Sinsky-Crosby said the online petition has become an impromptu space for former students of William Payne and friends of Fannie Payne to share the impact the educators had on them.
“That signature process kind of became a place to memorialize them because we suddenly had this space for people to come together and share memories,” she said.
Judy Lewis, a former student of William Payne at San Diego High, re that he always wore a suit to class, which matched his professional and formal personality. He was a strict teacher, she said, but he went out of his way to speak with students about ways to improve their essays.
“He had a great heart,” Lewis said.
After teaching, he moved to an istrative position for San Diego City College and in 1968 was hired at San Diego State University and served as director of issions until he retired in 1976. He died in 1986.
Fannie Payne worked in education for 36 years, as a teacher and counselor. She served as vice principal at Dana Junior High School in Point Loma before retiring in 1979. She died in 2008.
Sinsky-Crosby said residents want to organize a celebration at the park in the future.
