On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to rename the hospital. “By doing so, and by changing the clinic’s name, we uphold our beliefs and commitment to our community, employees, and patients.”

“When the history of the Bascom family, including slave ownership, became known, we listened to the thoughtful and constructive opinions of our physicians and staff,” said Lorenz in a statement.

Santa Clara Valley Medical Center CEO Paul Lorenz said county health workers approached him in April about removing the family’s name. SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – AUGUST 31: A South Bascom Avenue sign in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. The Bascom name also appears on a San Jose community center, light rail station and public library, which came under fire a year ago when a petition was created to change the name for the same reasons, though the effort has so far gone nowhere. It also may put a wide variety of sites around San Jose that bear the Bascom name on the chopping block, most significantly a 158-year-old, five-mile-long avenue that runs through both San Jose and a small chunk of Campbell. The move places the Bascoms on a long list of historical figures around the Bay Area and beyond whose names have stirred debate amid a reckoning of the country’s racist past. Louis Hazelton Bascom, who came to the city with his wife and seven children in 1849 from Kentucky, bought an unidentified Black man upon his arrival to be his cook for four years - a troubling account that prompted the health workers to seek to have the name removed.

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