Unwanted Legacies: The Shame that is Nathan B. Forrest High School

Here in Jacksonville, Florida, we have a high school named after Nathan Bedford Forrest, a confederate general who led the massacre of African American union soldiers at Fort Pillow and was one of the earliest members of the Ku Klux Klan.

That school was named based on the recommendations of the Daughters of the Confederacy, as a reaction to the Brown v. Board of Education ruling that (gasp) did away with segregation.

At the present time, the student body of that school is predominantly African American. Go Rebels! Rah rah rah!

Only one other school in the entire country is still named after this man, and it’s in Chapel Hill, Tennessee. At least that’s in the state of his birth. He never set foot in Jacksonville. Any other schools that bore his name had the good sense to change that years ago.

This is a blight on the city of Jacksonville. Not that we haven’t tried to change this in the past. The last time was in 2008. Unfortunately the school board’s vote went along color lines and was 5-2 to retain it. Too bad there were only two African American school board members that year. Ignorance abounds.

It’s time to make a change. I strongly suspect there are no Adolf Hitler High Schools anywhere on earth. Why would we continue to honor a racist thug?

But here’s where it gets sticky. Where do you draw the line? We have four other schools named after Confederate generals, and one named after Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy.

And Jacksonville was named after Andrew Jackson, a slave holder and the president responsible for forcibly relocating untold numbers of American Indians.

History isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always something to be proud of. And it shouldn’t be forgotten, but quite often it shouldn’t be honored, either.

Granted, changing the name of Jacksonville would be unbelievably expensive. But changing the name of a high school where students are supposed to express school spirit and wear t-shirts and cheer for their teams…a school named after a man who helped found the most racist organization on earth…a man who had no connection whatsoever to our local history (thank heavens)…This, to me, is a no-brainer.

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Update December 17, 2013: It gives me great joy to announce that the Duval County School Board finally saw fit to do the right thing last night, and voted unanimously to change the name of Forrest High School.  The new name has yet to be chosen, but it will take effect in July. That means that this year’s seniors will be the very last to graduate from Forrest High School. Now Jacksonville will be able to hold its head up a little higher.

Update January 7, 2014: The school has been named Westside High School, and the students chose to change their mascot from the Rebels to the Wolverines. Yay, team!

(To add insult to injury, this is the Forrest High School Mascot)

Author: The View from a Drawbridge

I have been a bridgetender since 2001, and gives me plenty of time to think and observe the world. View all posts by The View from a Drawbridge