A heated controversy surrounds the WPA murals in the lobby of the George Washington High School in San Francisco. Thirteen fresco panels of the life of George Washington were painted in 1935 by renowned artist Victor Arnautoff, one of the muralists for Coit Tower. The murals have come under fire because two panels show George Washington with his slaves at Mount Vernon and Washington pointing pioneers westward over the ghostly bodies of Native Americans. Some parents have complained that these depictions traumatize African American and Native American students. Art historians have countered that the artist’s intent was, in fact, critical of national mythology. Unfortunately, the SFUSD Reflection and Action Group recommended to the Superintendent of Schools and Board of Education to paint over all the murals (which cannot be moved)—a flagrant act of destruction rather than careful historical revision. Find more details here.