A few months ago, an all-white school board of Shenandoah County, Virginia, decided to restore the names of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Turner Ashby to two local schools. This reversal comes after a wave of anti-racist protests four years ago led to more than 60 schools across the country removing Confederate names.
In June 2020, the Shenandoah County board had passed a resolution affirming its “commitment to an inclusive school environment for all.” However, in some communities, the push for such changes appears to have been short-lived. While this may be the first instance of a school district reinstating Confederate names, the Virginia Mercury warns that it “could be a regressive blueprint for other localities.”
