Virginia school district makes U-turn on Confederate names

In the wake of Floyd’s death, many school districts responded by renaming schools, seeking to address historical racism by removing the names of American figures who were known to have owned slaves, fought on behalf of the Confederate army, supported segregation or otherwise furthered racism against black Americans.

Among the common school names targeted are Jackson, founding father Thomas Jefferson, who owned slaves, and Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

According to data gathered by Education Week, external at least 61 schools changed their names to non-Confederate names since June 2020. There are approximately 340 schools in 21 states which are currently named after Confederate figures.

Chandra Manning, a professor of history at Georgetown University, said the naming of schools after Confederate soldiers really took off in the 1950s after the government mandated that whites-only segregated schools accept black pupils, as a way to make black students feel unwelcome.

“It wasn’t a widespread trend until the Brown versus Board of Education decision in 1954, which mandated the desegregation of public schools,” she told the BBC. “And it was after that decision that the number and the frequency of schools named for Confederate generals quite dramatically and suddenly accelerated.

When the school board voted 5-1 to remove the name of Stonewall Jackson from the high school, in 2020, it stirred up local debate.

“There’s no way to preserve the traditions and heritage of one group and ease the inequity that another group may have felt,” Shenandoah County school board Andrew Keller said in the summer of 2020, when Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby Lee Elementary School were considering name changes. “You can’t keep a name and remove racist implications from it. You can’t claim to be inclusive, which we do, and have students who feel like they’re excluded.”

But others were concerned that changing the name would remove an important part of local Civil War history. The lone dissenting board member asked, “where is this gonna end?” according to media reports at the time, external.

“Eventually we’ve got to take a stand. If not, we’re gonna lose the country,” board member Marty Helsley said.