McClymonds is a neighborhood of Oakland, California, located within West Oakland. The neighborhood was named for the McClymonds Educational Complex, in turn named for former district superintendent John William McClymonds. The 1940s-1950s saw McClymonds evolve from a white neighborhood into a predominantly Black area. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at the high school in 1962 while Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Floyd McKissick, Cecil B. Moore, and Huey P. Newton were in attendance. The 1990s saw the high school suffer from high violence rates and decades-long low attendance and high levels of dropouts and school suspension.