Richmond School Named After Confederate General Renamed For Obama

RICHMOND, VA — An elementary school in Richmond that was named after a Confederate general has been renamed for the country's first black president. J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School, which opened in 1922, was named after James Ewell Brown Stuart, the chief of cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War.

Stuart participated in the capture of John Brown at Harpers Ferry in 1859 and fought in the First Battle of Manassas in 1861, according to Encyclopedia Virginia. The following year, Stuart became a "Confederate hero" when he lead more than 1,000 troops around Union general George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac, the group said.

The elementary school was one of 15 in the state to be named for Confederate soldiers, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, but was the only one in Richmond.

On Monday night, the Richmond School Board changed that. The board voted 6-1 to rename the school — which serves about 400 K-5 students and is more than 90 percent black — Barack Obama Elementary School.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that students at the school voted for their top three choices from among seven finalists. Among the other choices: Northside Elementary, after the school's location; Oliver Hill Elementary, after an area civil rights lawyer who helped end the idea of “separate but equal;" and Henry Marsh Elementary, after the city's first black mayor.

According to the SPLC, there are 100 public schools named after prominent Confederates, with nearly 40 percent (38) being named for General Robert E. Lee. Fifteen are named for Stonewall Jackson and 11 are named for Jefferson Davis.

The vast majority are in former Confederate states, but a few are located in Washington and California/

You can see all the schools below.

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