Virginia School Drops 3 Letters in Name to Try to Erase Confederate General Reference

A Virginia high school decided Thursday to drop three letters in its name to disconnect it from a Confederate general.

The Fairfax County School Board voted 6-5 to rename J.E.B. Stuart High School, named after Confederate general and slave-owner J.E.B. Stuart, by dropping “J.E.B.,” according to NBC Washinton. The decision not to adopt a new name entirely reduces the price of the name change, reported Burke Patch.

A petition by producer Bruce Cohen and actress Julianne Moore, both Stuart alumni, requested that the school rename itself after Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and obtained over 35,000 signatures.

“This is obviously one of the deepest issues this board or any board in the nation can face,” said Scott Brabrand, Fairfax County Public Schools superintendent during a previous July meeting on the decision, according to DCW50. “It’s a national conversation.”

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