A timeline of the Washington Football Team name change debate

On Wednesday, the Washington football franchise unveiled a new name, the Commanders, and logo. The announcement capped an 18-month-long rebranding process and marked the culmination of the decades-long controversy that surrounded the team’s former name. Here’s a look at how the Redskins, after years of resistance, became the Commanders.

1933: George Preston Marshall renames his team the Redskins

Then-owner Marshall changed his Boston-based team’s name from Braves to Redskins, telling reporters the move was made to avoid confusion with Boston’s National League baseball team.

“The fact that we have in our head coach Lone Star Dietz, an Indian, together with several Indian players, has not, as may be suspected, inspired me to select the name Redskins,” Marshall said.

1937: Redskins relocate to D.C.

Unhappy with the fan support for his team in Boston, Marshall moved the Redskins to Washington, where he previously made his money to become an NFL owner in 1932 by running a chain of laundromats.

Sept. 26, 1967: Redskins obtain first federal trademark registration

The team’s eventual seven federal trademark registrations with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office would be challenged on multiple occasions over the ensuing decades.

March 29, 1972: Native American leaders ask Redskins to change name

The Washington Star reported that a delegation of 11 people representing a variety of Native American organizations met Redskins President Edward Bennett Williams at his law office and requested he change the name of his team, which they said was a “derogatory racial epithet.”

“I listened, and that’s all,” Williams said of the meeting. “It was a listening session for me.”

1972: Redskins’ Indian head logo debuts on helmets

Walter “Blackie” Wetzel, the former chairman of the Blackfeet Nation, persuaded team executives to drop the “R” logo from Washington’s helmets in favor of the profile of an Indian warrior, which he helped design. The logo appeared on the team’s helmets through the 2019 season.

“It made us all so proud to have an Indian on a big-time team,” Wetzel told The Post in 2002. “It’s only a small group of radicals who oppose those names. Indians are proud of Indians.”

Jan. 26, 1992: Protests at the Super Bowl

More than 2,000 Native American activists protested the Redskins’ name in Minneapolis ahead of Washington’s 37-24 win over the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVI.

“We say to [team owner] Jack Kent Cooke, this is 1992,” said Vernon Bellecourt, the director of the American Indian Movement. “The name of your football team has got to be changed.”

Sept. 10, 1992: Native Americans petition the Patent and Trademark Office

Suzan Shown Harjo and a group of six other Native Americans filed a petition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, asking it to revoke the team’s federal trademark registrations on the grounds that they are disparaging.

July 1993: Senator introduces bill to block new stadium on RFK site

With Cooke looking for a location to build a new stadium to replace RFK, Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (D-Colo.) introduced a bill to block the team from using land on the federally owned RFK site unless it agreed to change its name.

April 19, 1997: Miami University changes from Redskins to RedHawks

The only remaining Division I school using the Redskins name changed to RedHawks at the request of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma.

“I don’t think it was a politically correct move; I think it was a humanely correct move,” said then-Cleveland Cavaliers general manager Wayne Embry, one of the trustees who voted unanimously in favor of the change.

Dozens of high schools have dropped the Redskins name over the past 30 years.

April 2, 1999: Trademark registrations threatened

In a temporary victory for Harjo, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ordered the cancellation of seven Redskins trademarks, including the team’s name and helmet logo, pending appeal.

“We regret the opinion, and we think it’s wrong,” said the team’s attorney, John Paul Reiner. “We are going to continue to protect the marks vigorously.”

May 25, 1999: Daniel Snyder buys the Redskins

Snyder, who grew up attending Redskins games with his father, led the investment group that purchased the team in a blind auction. Snyder said he might sell naming rights to the team’s stadium, but he had no intention of changing the team name.

2003: Team scores a legal victory in trademark battle

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly threw out the 1999 decision and ruled Harjo and her group had not produced enough evidence to show the name was so insulting that it could not be protected by a trademark.

2004: Annenberg Public Policy Center poll released

Nine percent of the 768 self-identified Native Americans surveyed said they were offended by the Redskins name. The poll was later criticized for potentially underrepresenting Indians who live on reservations, for not measuring levels of tribal membership and for asking only one question about attitudes on the issue.

2006: Native Americans challenge Redskins trademarks again

Amanda Blackhorse and four other Native Americans filed a new petition with the federal Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. It was put on hold until 2009, when the Supreme Court declined to accept Harjo’s petition to review her case at an appeals court.

May 10, 2013: Snyder says he will “NEVER” change the name

“We’ll never change the name,” Snyder told USA Today reporter Erik Brady. “It’s that simple. NEVER — you can use caps.”

Oct. 5, 2013: President Barack Obama weighs in

“If I were the owner of the team and I knew that there was a name of my team — even if it had a storied history — that was offending a sizable group of people, I’d think about changing it,” Obama told the Associated Press.

May 2016: Washington Post poll released

In a survey of 504 people across every state and the District, 9 out of 10 Native Americans said they were not offended by the Redskins name. Responses to The Post’s questions about the issue were broadly consistent regardless of age, income, education, political party or proximity to reservations.

June 29, 2017: Redskins score major victory in trademark battle

Ten days after the Supreme Court ruled in a separate case involving an Asian American rock band called the Slants that a key section of federal law banning trademarks that “may disparage” people was a violation of the First Amendment, Blackhorse dropped her case in federal appeals court.

“There’s no more challenge to make,” said Jesse A. Witten, an attorney representing Blackhorse.

June 12, 2020: D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser says it’s ‘past time’ for change

When asked during a radio interview with the Team 980 about the possibility of the Redskins building a stadium on the RFK site, Bowser said the team’s name “is an obstacle for us locally, but it’s also an obstacle for the federal government who leases the land to us.”

Less than three weeks later, D.C. officials made it clear that an NFL stadium on the RFK site is off the table without a name change.

June 19, 2020: George Preston Marshall monument in front of RFK removed

The monument honoring the legacy of the last NFL owner to integrate his team’s roster was removed on Juneteenth, the day that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. The following day, the team announced that it was retiring the late Bobby Mitchell’s No. 49 and renaming FedEx Field’s lower seating bowl, formerly called the George Preston Marshall Level, in his honor.

July 2, 2020: FedEx calls on Redskins to change their name

The naming rights-holder for the team’s stadium in Landover, Md., sends a letter threatening to sever its relationship with the team after the 2020 season unless the name is changed. The company signed a $205 million deal in 1999 for the stadium to be called FedEx Field, and Snyder stood to lose roughly $45 million, if the company pulled out early.

July 3, 2020: Redskins announce they’re undergoing “a thorough review” of the team’s name

Without announcing a timeline, the team said the review “formalizes the initial discussions the team has been having with the league in recent weeks.”

“This process allows the team to take into account not only the proud tradition and history of the franchise but also input from our alumni, the organization, sponsors, the National Football League and the local community it is proud to represent on and off the field,” Snyder said in a statement.

July 13, 2020: Team announces it will retire the Redskins name and logo

“Dan Snyder and Coach [Ron] Rivera are working closely to develop a new name and design approach that will enhance the standing of our proud, tradition rich franchise and inspire our sponsors, fans and community for the next 100 years,” the team said in a statement.

Feb. 2, 2022: Commanders announced as franchise’s new name

The team holds an event at FedEx Field to unveil the new name and logo, which still features the familiar burgundy and gold colors. “It’s a name befitting a 90-year-old franchise,” team president Jason Wright said on “Today.”