RICHMOND, Va. — In a majority six to one vote, the Richmond Public School board voted Monday night to change the name of J.E.B. Stuart Elementary to Barack Obama Elementary School
Barack Obama Elementary school was chosen from a total of seven finalists.
Earlier this year the Richmond School Board voted 8-1 to rename the Northside school that honored the Confederate general.
Students, parents, staff, and community members all submitted ideas for the school’s new name.
About 95 percent of the Fendall Avenue school’s student body is African-American. Many of the new school name options represent influential African-American Civil Rights leaders including Barbara Johns, Oliver Hill, and Henry Marsh.
The top three finalist names on Monday night were Barack Obama, Northside, and Wishtree.
Barack Obama became the country’s first African-American president after he was elected in 2008.
Stuart Elementary is the only school in the City of Richmond named after a Confederate general. Richmond served as the Capital of the Confederacy during the Civil War.
Earlier this year, the City of Petersburg voted to rename three Confederate-named schools.
Effective July 1, 2018, A.P. Hill will be renamed Cool Spring Elementary; Robert E. Lee will be renamed Lakemont Elementary; and J.E.B. Stuart will be renamed Pleasants Lane Elementary.
This is not the first school to be named after Obama, but it appears to be the first school renamed from a Confederate general to the 44th President.
