Two Virginia schools named after Confederate generals and soldiers who changed names after the 2020 killing of George Floyd are set to revert to their previous names.
The Shenandoah County School Board changed Stonewall Jackson High School to Mountain View High School and Ashby-Lee Elementary School to Honey Run Elementary School in Quicksburg after a board vote in July 2020 and final approval in January 2021.
But less than two years later, a petition was launched to gauge the strength of sentiment to restore the schools to their original names.
A vote was held in 2020 to change Stonewall Jackson High School’s name to Mountain View, but it’s likely the old name could be restored within months
General Stonewall Jackson served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War and became one of the best-known Confederate commanders
Vocal opposition came from community members and alumni, with more than 4,000 people signing the petition to change the names.
The issue was discussed at length by the six-member, all-white school board during a meeting last week.
Some new board members felt the decision to change the name was hasty and didn’t take into account the opinions of the community.
Executive Vice Chairman Dennis Barlow said those in favor of a name change are misfits who are “creepy,” “elitist” and of the “dark side,” he told NBC News.
He claims the school board’s decision to even change the name was “undemocratic and unfair,” noting that he thought General Stonewall Jackson was a “gallant commander.”
“Most people who vote for elected officials then rely on them doing the right thing on their behalf,” said board member Cynthia Walsh, who doesn’t think the names should be changed again.
“We have a representative democracy. We don’t have direct democracy,” she added.
In 2020, a vote was held to change the name of Ashby-Lee Elementary School to Honey Run Elementary School
Turner Ashby Jr. (October 23, 1828 – June 6, 1862) was an American military officer. He was a Confederate cavalry commander in the American Civil War, left. Robert E. Lee, right, was an American Confederate general best known for commanding the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
“Times have changed, the composition of our schools has changed, and I sincerely believe that a reconsideration of the name change is not what is best for children,” Walsh said.
“I proposed a compromise: adding a third option – I didn’t agree to the name change, but I don’t think we should change it back – ‘and we left it there that evening, but we didn’t vote on it,'” said Walsh.
“In my opinion, if you do it across the country, you might as well kick the students out because they don’t care,” said Kyle Gutshall, who was elected to the board this year and recently graduated from high school.
But other board members insisted all night that the decision must be made first about what is right for the students.
‘No. 1 criterion: What is best for children? We will educate the children today and for the next 25 years,” said Board Member Andrew Keller.
This time, rather than making a unilateral decision, the board chose to consult voters on whether to change the names again. The next school board meeting is scheduled for September 9th.
Shenandoah County Public Schools has declined to comment on the issue.
“It is the responsibility of the Shenandoah County School Board to determine the names of schools, school facilities, and areas of school facilities or campuses in the division. We have no comment or statement as a department at this time,” the district said in a statement.
After the death of George Floyd, statues, memorials, schools and buildings across the country named after Confederate leaders suddenly found themselves at the center of racial justice. Since that time, several statues and monuments have been dismantled and either relocated or placed in storage.
According to US News & World Report, there are more than 6,000 students in district-run schools, of whom more than 75 percent are white and about 3 percent are black.
what’s in a name Virginia schools that moved with the times
The Shenandoah County School Board voted unanimously on the new names for two of its schools on January 14, 2021.
In July 2020, the school board voted to remove the names of Stonewall Jackson and Ashby-Lee from two of their Quicksburg school names.
Committees were formed from students, community members, and staff while the school board narrowed down the possible new names.
The school board voted 6-0 to change Stonewall Jackson High School to Mountain View High School and rename Ashby-Lee Elementary School to Honey Run Elementary.
It was reported at the time that the community had gathered and shown their support for the name change.
Two charities even donated money to the schools to be used toward the name change, with one anonymous donor sending $25,000 toward Stonewall Jackson’s name change alone.
Robert Edward Lee was an American Confederate general best known for commanding the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He commanded the Army of Northern Virginia from 1862 until its surrender in 1865. Lee was the only President of the Confederate States of America.
General Stonewall Jackson served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War and became one of the best-known Confederate commanders after General Robert E. Lee.
Turner Ashby was a Confederate soldier known as the Black Knight. Ashby wore black to mourn the death of his soldier brother, and he rode a white horse into battle.
General “Stonewall” Jackson: “Legendary” general and pro-slavery advocate who died during the Civil War
An engraving of Confederate General Thomas Jonathan Jackson, better known as “Stonewall” Jackson, made by artist Desmaisons circa 1850
Thomas Jonathan Jackson was born on January 21, 1824 in Clarksburg, Virginia, now West Virginia, and became one of the best-known Confederate generals of the Civil War after General Robert E. Lee.
He was a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and later a professor of artillery. He is said to have received his nickname “Stonewall” in the First Battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861 by Confederate General Bernard Bee.
He became known for his “legendary” military prowess at Harpers Ferry in 1861, his 1862 campaign in the Shenandoah Valley, and flanking maneuvers at the Battle of Chancellorsville, leading to the naming of many statues, schools, and even cities across the US after him were named.
Jackson is also a controversial figure.
Like many Confederate leaders, he held anti-abolitionist views that it was “God’s will” for slavery to exist, and is known to have owned at least six enslaved individuals.
Some Confederate historians argue that Jackson agreed to abolition because he attended a black Sunday school in 1855, and that several slaves reportedly “asked” to be bought by him to “save” them from harsher owners in the Deep South “.
Other historians warn that these “myths” are routinely used to make former slave owners appear “benevolent” and to distance the Confederate cause from slavery and white supremacy.
They also claim that Jackson’s participation in black Sunday school could also be seen as part of a widespread attempt to control black religious life.
Jackson was accidentally killed by friendly fire in Chancellorsville in May 1863 at the age of 39 by one or more soldiers of the 18th North Carolina Infantry Regiment.
Who was Robert E Lee?
Robert E. Lee, one of the most brilliant officers in the pre-Civil War US Army, declined President Lincoln’s offer of a Union command to join the Confederacy, despite his personal opposition to the secession of slavery states.
“If I owned the four million slaves in the South, I would sacrifice them all to the Union; but how can I draw my sword on Virginia, my native state?’ Lee is said to have responded when offered a senior US command early in the war.
In stepping down from his US Army commission, Lee also expressed skepticism about the legitimacy of a “union that can only be sustained with swords and bayonets.”
For the Confederacy, he commanded the Army of Northern Virginia.
He had victories in the Seven Days Battles and the second Bull Run, but led the rebels to a decisive defeat at Gettysburg.
Lee held General Ulysses S. Grant from complete victory and then personally surrendered to Appomattox as General in Chief.
A slave owner himself, Lee expressed conflicting reservations about slavery throughout his life. In an 1856 letter to his wife, he claimed that slavery was a great evil, but mainly because of the negative effects he felt it had on whites.
After the war, he supported the end of slavery and reunification, but said blacks “lacked intelligence”.