Should schools named after die-hard Confederate leaders be changed?

[Honeykiss1974]

Educators Debate Efforts to Rename Schools
Fri Dec 26, 7:18 PM ET Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!


By STEVE SZKOTAK, Associated Press Writer

HAMPTON, Va. - At Jefferson Davis Middle School, a civil war of words is being waged over a petition drive to erase the name of the slave-owning Confederate president from the school.

Opinion is mixed, and it's not necessarily along racial lines.
"If it had been up to Robert E. Lee, these kids wouldn't be going to school as they are today," said civil rights leader Julian Bond, now a history professor at the University of Virginia. "They can't help but wonder about honoring a man who wanted to keep them in servitude."

That argument isn't accepted universally among Southern black educators, including the school superintendent in Petersburg, where about 80 percent of the 36,000 residents are black. Three schools carry the names of Confederates.

"It's not the name on the outside of the building that negatively affects the attitudes of the students inside," Superintendent Lloyd Hamlin said. "If the attitudes outside of the building are acceptable, then the name is immaterial."

It is difficult to say how many public schools in the 11 former Confederate states are named for Civil War leaders from the South. Among the more notable names, the National Center for Education Statistics lists 19 Robert E. Lees, nine Stonewall Jacksons and five Davises. J.E.B. Stuart, Turner Ashby, George Edward Pickett each have at least one school bearing their name.

For some, these men who defended a system that allowed slavery should not be memorialized on public schools where thousands of black children are educated.

The symbols and the names of the Confederacy remain powerful reminders of the South's history of slavery and the war to end it. States, communities and institutions continue to debate what is a proper display of that heritage.

Students in South Carolina have been punished for wearing Confederate flag T-shirts to school. The town of Clarksdale, Miss., permanently lowered the state flag — which has a Confederate emblem in one corner — to recognize "the pain and suffering it has symbolized for many years." And the Richmond-area Boy Scouts dropped Lee's name from its council this year.

In the most sweeping change, the Orleans Parish School Board in Louisiana gave new names to schools once named for historical figures who owned slaves. George Washington Elementary School was renamed for Dr. Charles Richard Drew, a black surgeon who organized blood banks during World War II.

In Gadsden, Ala., however, officials have resisted efforts to rename a middle school named for Nathan Bedford Forrest, an early backer of the Ku Klux Klan. And a school board in Kentucky adopted a new dress code that eliminates bans on provocative symbols including the Confederate flag.

The naming of schools after Confederate figures is particularly rich with symbolism because of the South's slow move to integrate. Many schools were named after the U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) ruled segregated schools unconstitutional in 1954 but before the departure of whites left many inner city schools majority black.

"Now whites are complaining that they are changing the name of Stonewall Jackson High School," says Fitzhugh Brundage, a University of North Carolina history professor who is writing a book on "black and white memory from the Civil War."

While far from always the case, the naming of some public schools after Confederate generals was a parting shot to blacks emerging from segregated schools.

"It was an attempt to blend the past with the present but holding onto a romanticized past," Jennings Wagoner, a U.Va. scholar on the history of education, said of the practice of naming schools after Lee, Jackson and others. "It was also a time of extreme racism."

Erenestine Harrison, who launched the petition drive to rename Jefferson Davis Middle School, attended Hampton's segregated public schools. She moved north in 1967 and was struck by the school names upon her return seven years ago to Hampton, a city at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. Educated as a psychologist, she has worked in the city schools as a substitute teacher.

"If I were a kid, especially a teenager, I would be ashamed to tell a friend that I went to Jefferson Davis," said Harrison, 55. "Basically, those guys fought for slavery."

But Henry Kidd, former Virginia commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (news - web sites), sees efforts by Harrison and others as a "chipping away, piece by piece, at our history."

[RedefinedDiva]

I think that it is cool. Here in New Orleans, a few years ago, they began changing the names of schools that were named for Confederates and slave owners. The largest parish in the state also has the highest percentage of African-American students. It just didn't seem fair for the students to honor a school named for someone who had no interest in them ever going to school.

[AKA2D '91]

How will this "name change" affect test scores, whether kids are reading on grade level (IF THEY CAN READ), and accountability? Are "we" grasping for something that we can change or have the answers to.

What's next? Will we change the name of streets, buildings, etc.

[RedefinedDiva]

Originally posted by AKA2D '91
How will this "name change" affect test scores, whether kids are reading on grade level (IF THEY CAN READ), and accountability? Are "we" grasping for something that we can change or have the answers to.

What's next? Will we change the name of streets, buildings, etc.

That's true. It really is pointless. I see the point of the respect issues that are brought up in the articles, but the questions you pose are true. I mean, really, look at Booker T. Washington High. Enough said....

[KnowledgeSeeker]

Wow how funny .

I interned at Jefferson Davis Middle School, as well as Rober E. Lee Elementary (as a mentor) while I was attending Hampton University. I was never perplexed by the names because VA is a commonwealth state that needed slavery in those days (tobacco is a big thing out there) and supported all those that kept their money coming. However I think it's important to name these schools after people that these children should want to exemplify. And honestly/more importantly these schools are too heavily populated with AA children to be named after such Civil War "heros"(sp?).

There are too many important iconic figures being sheltered from these children (especially in a small town like Hampton). It would be very wonderful to see a "Dorothy Height Middle School" or a "Whitney M. Young Jr. Elementary School" in these areas so that they can see what is possible for any child .

[Senusret I]

I feel that the names should only be changed if the Alumni, current students, and faculty can democratically come to that decision. Many schools have a brand identity, so to speak.

I attended Calvin Coolidge High School.....for us, we kinda realize how useless Coolidge was as a President, and how many other people we could be honoring instead....but....that's part of our identity as Alumni, faculty, and current students.

Bottom line, if the affected parties desire the change, then I support it. Otherwise....it's none of my business.

[TonyB06]

Life and times are cyclical. In Atlanta now they're fighting over whether to change the name of the airport from Hartsfield(sp?) to naming it after the late Bro. Maynard M. Jackson. While this is laudable, particularly to those who recognize and want to honor all Bro. Jackson did to make Atlanta a thriving area, the Hartsfield people remember what their guy did.

From a political view, I also wonder if it's the best use of political capital to get it done, but that's just the deal-maker in me, I guess.

These proposed name changes are becoming more common. Look at Congress, they already named the D.C. airport after Reagan and now they want to put his likeness on the dime, replacing FDR.

[Senusret I]

Originally posted by TonyB06
These proposed name changes are becoming more common. Look at Congress, they already named the D.C. airport after Reagan and now they want to put his likeness on the dime, replacing FDR.

And NOBODY in the DC Area refers to it as Reagan. It was a big joke to all of us here, and even Metrorail refused to rename to subway station at the airport, and the maps, and all the literature...they said they didn't have the money to make all those changes, so forget it.

(I think they have made the changes by now though....perhaps Congress decided to foot the bill.)

[ladygreek]

We are waging a battle here in MN about how history should be taught in out schools--sanitized are reality. I support the latter. In that vein then I do not agree with changing the names of schools named after figures who made a place in our history--good or bad. What is important is that the whole truth be taught about the person.

If we start changing names because someone owned slaves, then we would have to make sure there are no buildings named after Black folk who owned slaves (because some did.) I think changing the name of the school named for George Washington is a prime example of taking it to far. After all everyone owned slaves back then but he was the first president of these United States. The latter is why a school should be named after him.

And to take it a step further in those days, since it was the norm, it was not so much a matter of them owning slaves, but how they treated them.

[Exquisite5]

It is my understanding that the argument is not to change the names of schools which were named after people who owned slaves, but rather to the change the names of schools which are named after people who risked life and limb in the Civil War to uphold slavery. That is a little different than just chaning the names of schools named after 19th century whites.

With that said, I say the money and energy parents and alumni are devoting to school name changing should be devoted to EDUCATING CHILDREN WITH ACCEPTABLE RESOURCES. I'm sorry, changing the name of Robert E. Lee High to Martin L. King, Jr means NADA when the books the kids are learning from were written when Robert E. Lee was alive and none of the 12th graders can read at an 8th grade level.

Back to basics!!!

Big picture!

[ladygreek]

Originally posted by Exquisite5
It is my understanding that the argument is not to change the names of schools which were named after people who owned slaves, but rather to the change the names of schools which are named after people who risked life and limb in the Civil War to uphold slavery. That is a little different than just chaning the names of schools named after 19th century whites.

With that said, I say the money and energy parents and alumni are devoting to school name changing should be devoted to EDUCATING CHILDREN WITH ACCEPTABLE RESOURCES. I'm sorry, changing the name of Robert E. Lee High to Martin L. King, Jr means NADA when the books the kids are learning from were written when Robert E. Lee was alive and none of the 12th graders can read at an 8th grade level.

Back to basics!!!

Big picture!

Agree!

[BirthaBlue4]

Originally posted by Senusret I
And NOBODY in the DC Area refers to it as Reagan. It was a big joke to all of us here, and even Metrorail refused to rename to subway station at the airport, and the maps, and all the literature...they said they didn't have the money to make all those changes, so forget it.

(I think they have made the changes by now though....perhaps Congress decided to foot the bill.)

That is so true, it will always be "National".

They changed the name of a middle school out here from Roger B Taney (US Supreme Court racist) to Thurgood Marshall, and the kids are still heathens. A name is just a name. But if the people in that district are mad enough and want it changed, then go right ahead, that's their right as taxpaying citzens. But where's all the rucous to get textbooks and desks in the classrooms, more teachers, etc?

Is this another, albeit slightly different, example of the "name brand frenzy" in America?

[aopirose]

Originally posted by Exquisite5
With that said, I say the money and energy parents and alumni are devoting to school name changing should be devoted to EDUCATING CHILDREN WITH ACCEPTABLE RESOURCES. I'm sorry, changing the name of Robert E. Lee High to Martin L. King, Jr means NADA when the books the kids are learning from were written when Robert E. Lee was alive and none of the 12th graders can read at an 8th grade level.

Back to basics!!!

Big picture!

TRUE, TRUE, TRUE!