After roughly 150 years, the name a little-known waterway in unincorporated Novato will be changed to better honor John Pinkston, one of the first Black settlers and 'pioneers of Marin County.'
"It was very likely a name that was bestowed upon him more than a name that he chose for himself," Warner said.
Historians don't know exactly when and why Pinkston settled in Marin County although it is known that he came sometime in the late 1840s. When he arrived, he soon became a prominent part of society. He worked as a mediator between the Native Americans and the settlers, and he was one of the first Black men -- if not the first -- to own land here in the county.
"When he passed away in 1872, it was written up in the newspaper that he was one of the pioneers of Marin County," Warner said. And that's why it didn't seem right to Warner that Pinkston was being called out for his race when no other settler was. "That's the thing," Warner explained, "I know there were some folks who were adamant about not changing it and it's like, look, we're not trying to rewrite history, we're just trying to say this feature was already named after this person, but it was named based on how the powers of the time looked at him."
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