Letter to the editor: It’s past time to remove name of Robert E. Lee
Note: This letter to the editor is from Larysa Kautz, a candidate in the Democratic primary for the 2019 Lee District Supervisor election.
Editor:
As Americans, we should never forget our own history. It is our moral responsibility to teach new generations about slavery and the war that divided our nation. We’ve paid for this education with the lives of well over 17 million African American slaves and more than half a million soldiers and it diminishes their legacy if we don’t remind ourselves of why they fought.
However, remembering our history is not the same as honoring it. While Robert E. Lee’s name should live forever in textbooks and our national consciousness, it should never adorn places of honor.
It is well past time to officially change the names of the Robert E. Lee High School and the Robert E. Lee Recreation Center in Fairfax County. Children should not be forced to go to school under the name of a man who fought to keep their ancestors enslaved. No child should read in her textbook about what Lee stood for and then walk through community buildings honoring his name.
Moreover, I would argue that we should change these names entirely, not merely shorten them to “Lee High School” or “Lee Rec Center.” We should choose names that truly represent the diverse community in which we reside — names that elevate and celebrate inclusion — names that demonstrate that we aspire to the ideals outlined in “One Fairfax” — and names that show that we’re willing to actively promote justice, compassion and empathy.
For those of us who are not affected by these and other daily reminders of systemic racism, this issue may seem cosmetic. I challenge you, however, to consider the history of the naming of these institutions.
Lee High School received its current name in 1964 during a period of massive resistance to statewide integration. As the Fairfax County NAACP explained in their agenda for change this year, “The naming of the high school stands as a monument to the county’s efforts to resist integration. For far too long, lack of political will and courage has allowed elected officials, the school system, and others to either ignore or deny the history of this school. With the changing of JEB Stuart, it is time for Robert E. Lee to go.”
More than two years ago, a petition with over 2,200 supporters was circulated to Fairfax County to change the name of Robert E. Lee High School. Yet nothing has happened. This is a call once again to look at ourselves and our communities, and push for change.
I commend Lee District school board representative Tammy Kaufax for her recent request to Superintendent Scott Brabrand to supply information on school names related to Confederate soldiers or with ties to the Confederate cause. I hope this is done quickly and leads to concrete action.
I challenge the Fairfax County Democratic Committee, the Fairfax County School Board and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to take this on — at their very next meetings — and pass resolutions to change the names of these institutions and implement the changes by 2020.
Larysa Kautz
Groveton
In a vacuum, I appreciate and agree with the author. It is easy to make a moral declaration and more challenging to effect solutions, especially when we have competing priorities. Please note it costs Fairfax County over a million dollars to change the name of one high school.
The dollars will come from our balanced budget. In deciding this week to advertise no possible increase in real estate taxes, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors identified the unmet needs to fund early childhood education, to equip police officers with body cameras, and to protect residents against stormwater. Where on our list of priorities does changing nomenclature to lessen the need to confront our nation’s history lie?
The author did not mention Lee District is one of the original districts named when the present day Fairfax County Board of Supervisors was established in 1870.
Our nation’s founders were of a different era. Period. They aspired to build a nation wherein democratic values of equality and comity can be actualized though they personally failed to fulfill their potential. We are each beneficiaries of their imperfect humanity. We recognize Lincoln was a separatist; we acknowledge Washington and Jefferson kept slaves. Yet, we look forward to celebrating the third annual Jefferson Obama Dinner on June 2, 2019.
I propose we acknowledge our history including the misdeeds of our predecessors and work together to build a better future together. I propose we identify our priorities and fund them. I see providing early childhood education will have a greater lasting impact than changing the name on a building.
Will, I appreciate your point of view. And I agree that we need to allocate resources judiciously. When JEB Stuart’s name change was first proposed, people wrote inflammatory articles about the millions of dollars that it would cost in order to curtail it. It ended up costing about $428,000 and nearly $100,000 of that was raised in donations.
In the second wealthiest county in the United States, with the recent nationwide outrage about the actions and words from our leaders in Richmond, I know that we can find creative ways to finance these changes. And I’m up to the challenge. We owe that to our children, in addition to increasing our investment in early childhood education and vocational training.
Thank you, Larysa.
I perceive you see changing the building names as a top priority. I read your comment as saying we owe it to children.
When you say “increase” our investment in early childhood education, are you in favor of increasing real estate taxes to fully fund early childhood education?
Would you fund the costs for your proposal to change building names before fully funding each child who needs early childhood education support?
How do you propose funding name changes?
Presuming the costs are comparable to our experience with Justice High School, that would be about $856,000 including both name changes. Is that a top funding priority for you?
Thank you.
Separately, I assert Fairfax County is the wealthiest county – not the second wealthiest county – in the United States as measured by median household income.
With over 1,148,000 residents, our beloved Fairfax County has more households with incomes above the median than Loudoun County has in its estimated total population of 398,080.
Thank you for letting me share.
It is amazing how many FOLKS know nothing about history! Another failure of our educational system. What do you hope to accomplish by erasing history? Will you also rename Lee district? Lee highway? What about Lee Jackson Highway? How about Washington D.C. didn’t Washington have slaves? Maybe we can enlist the Taliban to come over and show us how they obliterated history in the Middle East. Please read about the man Lee was and how he detested slavery before you call for erasing this mans legacy.
There is no call to erase the history of Robert E. Lee, it should always be in the books. That said, there is a huge difference in knowing of a political figure or war hero (to his own side) and honoring that person in statues and naming schools and public places after them. Washington did indeed own slaves, in a time when it was accepted. Robert E. Lee fought to perpetuate slavery in a country that was desperately trying to move on and abolish this horrible practice. I’m a historian and your argument just doesn’t hold.
I read constantly how we are not erasing history, it’s in the books. I agree it should always be in the books. We may not be erasing history but we are revising history to reflect that our Forefathers and our American History is shameful.
I certainly respect your opinion but not all historians agree that the war was to perpetuate slavery. James Robertson, celebrated Civil War historian, explains southern warrior ethos and state bonds – not slavery – compelled good Americans to fight for South. He also said “If you don’t understand the emotion of the war, you’ll never understand the war,” and I totally agree.
Actually, I feel Phil makes two valid points, regarding Robert E. Lee: in a lawsuit recently filed was the quote “If a person is ‘most known’ — out of ignorance of the person’s actual accomplishments — for things that do not truly represent the person’s life, positions held, actions, or the like, then the naming criteria allows popular ignorance to govern the decision,”
And to his comment “It is amazing how many folks know nothing about history…..
David McCullough, American author, narrator, historian and lecturer recently wrote…“We are raising a generation of young Americans who are by and large historically illiterate,”. He describes a bright Missouri college student who thanked him for coming to the campus, because, she said, “until now I never understood that the original 13 colonies were all on the East Coast.” Another student asked him: “Aside from Harry Truman and John Adams, how many other presidents have you interviewed?
Peggy Noonan opined “What explains the new dumbness? Some blame boring textbooks put together by committee and scrubbed clean of the politically inconvenient and incorrect. Some argue that so many strange, culturally fashionable things are jammed into public school curricula that essentials have been forced out. Many point to a certain negativity, a focus on our national sins that has crowded out our achievements. This is counterproductive: a sophisticated presentation of our triumphs and tragedies makes our sins all the more poignant and powerful.”
“History is an antidote to the hubris of the present. We think everything we have, do and think is the ultimate, the best. “We should never look down on those of the past and say they should have known better. What do you think they will be saying about us in the future? They’re going to be saying we should have known better.”
I would much rather see my tax dollar handed directly to someone in need then used in this current campaign motivated by this new found “moral outrage” directed at people who lived 150 years ago. Believe me, the majority of the students at Stuart felt the same way.
And the name of the district itself along with them, I hope? The sign on the building notwithstanding, the RECenter is called Lee District RECenter. Renaming the district seems like an obvious foundational step.
Well you might as well dispose of all Virginians in history including your ideals outlined as “One Fairfax”, as I’m sure you are aware, Fairfax was a notorious slaveholder and not too nice a man according to the history books. Most Confederates didn’t own slaves for the record.
I’m not sure where you’re coming up with 17 million African American slaves but you may want to check that figure…
JEB Stuart High School, Robert E. Lee High School, Thomas Jefferson High School, James Madison High School, Mount Vernon High School, Fairfax High School, Chantilly High School, Hayfield Secondary, Lanier Middle, Mosby Woods Elementary School, Ravensworth Elementary School and Mantua. The best to come is renaming Fairfax County, the Lee district, Mason District in its entirety and the cost of those changes. Ever read about Lord Fairfax? Why even long before he became a famous author, Mark Twain served a brief stint as a Confederate soldier in the Civil War, so add that to the list!
I also have concerns about Custer Dr. there in Springfield, not to mention the Mosby Woods community but there’s plenty of time and money to start on those afterwards. Children shouldn’t be forced to live with those oppressive names and God knows we are a rich county. Well except for maybe the 60+ percent who are on free breakfast and lunch at Stuart alone.
And I challenge you Larysa, to consider the history of the naming of these institutions.
Lee was originally named Lee in 1958 for the Lee district. It was renamed in 1963, years later, at the request of the SPTA. That was an entirely different board and different superintendent, not the same people who named JEB Stuart.
Serving on that School Board that renamed Lee were Sarah Larr who wrote in the Washington Post in favor of desegregation as early as 1955 and Martha Gertwagen who was instrumental starting the Fairfax Council on Human relations years before, and also had articles in the post supporting integration. There were only 7 members, it was unanimous.
It was right in Annandale that the Fairfax Council on Human relations was formed. They were instrumental in smoothing the path for integration. Martha Gertwagen’ s husband was an officer. In the 1962 Civil Rights Commission reports you will see mention of the Fairfax Council on Human Relations, that program was the inspiration for the Federal Government program Head Start. It states in the report “to despite the need there are no other similar programs in the State of Virginia.” (Commission Report found on the web/ Pg. 209)
There was also a Junior Council of Fairfax Human Relations started in Lee High school by black and white students. (Arlington County Library Dabs projects) It was a student from Lee High School named Dwain Lee who started and was president of the Junior Council on Human Relations in the early 60’s. Those kids were active in smoothing the way for integration. Those black and white students took on projects working together, one was fixing up the run down home of an indigent Negro family in Gum Springs.
It was the Junior Council who started petitions in the high schools, starting at Lee, who asked for the ban on integrated sports to be lifted. They had thousands of signatures of white high school students in the different Fairfax County high schools signed up.
Before you pass judgement on the good souls of the 50’s and 60’s who lived in Fairfax County you may want to do some research and not follow that lame, old nonsense about schools in Northern Virginia being named for Massive Resistance. Massive Resistance was history by 1964.
Bruce Cohen and the “students for change” had no problem with the name JEB Stuart, it was that it was chosen for Massive Resistance, or out of spite, which is untrue and manufactured.
Washington Post columnist Benjamin Muse described Virginia’s political elite as dangerously overzealous in their reaction to Brown. “Organization leaders,” he wrote, “were more extreme in their opposition to school desegregation than the people of the state were.”
Massive resistance wasn’t popular in Northern Virginia. Read about the Election. “The House of Delegates race in Fairfax County-Falls Church is a strange one this year. Republicans and Democratic candidates both oppose the state Democratic program of Massive Resistance to school desegregation.” (WaPo 10-28-57)
Read about our local representation. John C. Webb (Fairfax) Kathryn Stone (Arlington) Armistead Booth (Alexandria) and Omer Hirst (Falls Church), any of their Wiki pages will show where Northern Virginia stood. Note Mr. Webb was re-elected 3 times during this fiasco of Massive Resistance. They all were.
Read in Matthew Lassister’s book the “Moderates Dilemma” how our district was unique. It was the moderates who bought an end to Massive resistance.
Anne Wilkins was the Fairfax BOS Chairman during the 1950s. As early as 1955 Anne Wilkins was the only one to vote AGAINST approval of a resolution which would ban the use of public funds for integrated schools. The resolution was written by the “League of Virginia Counties”. The vote was 149 to 1. (WaPo 11/13/1955) Anne appointed School Board members who served during the naming of JEB Stuart. Anne was a community activist and worked with a number of groups, including the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, the League of Women Voters and the planning and land-use committee of the Northern Virginia Builders Association. She also served as a founder and president of the old Fairfax County Lay Health Association and her partner in that endeavor was E.B Henderson (head of the local NAACP in 1958 who led the fight against Massive resistance)
Anne was a lifelong Democratic Party activist. The entire school board with the exception of Robert Davis was replaced in January 1956. He was a constant member throughout the late fifties. Mr. Davis was an appointee of Anne Wilkins Anne would certainly not have appointed and reappointed a racist school board chairman.
In Fairfax County there was a move to cut community funding to organizations…Girl scouts and others for integrating, anti-segregationist lost that vote. (WaPo 3/30/55)
Benjamin Muse, a great writer for the Washing Post who documented Massive resistance wrote of an incident in on April 30th 1955 there was to be a meeting of the Fairfax County Federation of PTA’s (80 attending) on how to go about complying with the Supreme Court ruling. The meeting was totally taken over by obstructionist from Mr. Williams group. The PTA members were literally driven out of the door. Mr. Benjamin Muse, a panel member was very upset…he wrote two columns about the incident in the Washington Post.
Read the editorial in favor of desegregation by Sarah Lahr. Ms. Lahr was a School Board member during the Lee renaming 1962. (WaPo 7-1-55)
Read this fascinating article “Foes of the Gray Bill” where Mr. Webb after being grilled says ” on with the slaughter” note who is mentioned in the last paragraph Booth, Stone and Hirst. (WaPo 12-2-55)
Read how out of the entire state it was only the 10th district who voted against the Gray commission, (WaPo Jan 10th 1956. “Convention Rejected”)
Read about the Boatwright Bill…A bill was introduced in the House of Delegates today to ban Federal employees from serving on school boards and in other local offices throughout Virginia aimed at Northern Virginia School Boards, Richmond thought them too liberal. Four of our seven-member school board worked for the Federal Government. (WaPo Feb 11, 1956)
The 1958 Fairfax County School Board (When Stuart was named) weren’t a bunch of good old Boys. 6 of the 7 weren’t even raised in Virginia or a southern state. They hailed from Wisconsin, New York City, Iowa, Puerto Rico, Indiana and Connecticut. (Raised in Puerto Rico, his parents were American.) He ended up here as a result of WW2. Our lone Virginian, Mr. C. Turner Hudgins, was considered too liberal. (WaPo 7-11-59).
Read how Mr. Webb and Mr. Woodson felt about what was going on. Mr. Webb rails against Richmond and Mr. Woodson comments, “the outlook may look dark now but I have faith”…. (WaPo 9/26/56)
School Board members Mr. C Turner Hudgins, Mr. Merton Parsons, Ms. Sarah Lahr, Ms. Martha Gertwagen, and BOS member Anne Wilkins were all open supporters with David Scull against the Gray Commission as early as 1955. (David Sculls papers/ The Virginia Room Fairfax Library)
In fact, at the same meeting when Stuart was named, the exact same school Board named a high school for James Madison. That same school board named 9 intermediate schools for writers… In 1959 schools were named H.W. Longfellow, Washington Irving, Sidney Lanier, JG Whittier, Henry Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Ellen Glasgow, and Edgar Allen Poe. In 1960 schools named were Thomas Edison, George Marshall, and W.T. Woodson. Eight elementary schools were named after their respective communities. All these schools were named between Stuart and Lee, there was no insidious message in the naming or do you think they missed 22 opportunities?
The whole problem with naming Lee had nothing to do with naming a school for a confederate but naming a school after a neighborhood…
In a May 8, 1958 article in the Washington Post Mr. Woodson said “He is surprised and disappointed that we have this type of controversy among adults. I don’t want the children coming to this school saying I’m from Springfield…I’m from Franconia…let’s fight. Gangs tend to develop in communities where there is controversy. “[13] In a Northern Virginia Sun article dated October 8, 1958, Mr. Davis School Board member states ….”He’d rather name a school Podunk then get into the battle like was over Lee High school.” The article further notes that the name JEB Stuart was chosen because he had his headquarters on Munson Hill, the site of the school.
As to all the “spinning” they have not provided one article, one document, anything that speaks to the great conspiracy, that SUPPORTS the school was named for Massive Resistance. Not one, out of the thousands of articles STILL AVAILABLE in the Washington Post, Evening Star, Northern Virginia Sun, Afro American news, local blogs/newsletters or one piece of evidence in the hundreds of theses written by scholars about Massive resistance ETC…
Talk about diminishing legacies, you’ve done a pretty good job yourself. Regarding the naming of JEB Stuart HS and Robert E Lee HS, you have taken the anonymous faces of the dead, collectively the 1958 and the 1963 Superintendents and School Board members, and made a mockery of their legacy, their service on the school board and their service to the community. You have taken a group of men and women you knew nothing about, and assigned to them the mantra of racism and bigotry and summed up their service as responsible for naming a school for a hateful purpose to hurt and shame black youth.
DPS, thank you for the insights into our history. People have put significant time and effort into contributing to a better future for our community. We need greater awareness. I enjoyed reading your very informative comment. Thank you.
Thank you for your interest and kind words Will Radle. I live in the J.E.B. Stuart pyramid. The renaming J.E.B. Stuart H.S. issue tore the community apart. The issue wasn’t Stuart, it was whether that naming the school after him was done out of spite for Brown v the Board of Education. Mr. Woodson (Superintendent) and the school board were vilified to perpetuate a political agenda. I went into my research totally neutral and I thought “if” it was a spiteful act it would be easy to document. In all that I have researched I have found there is nothing to support the notion that the school was named J.E.B. Stuart out of spite.
Edwin Bancroft Henderson (November 24, 1883 – February 3, 1977)
Dr Henderson was a tireless activist his entire life and after he retired from teaching in 1954, he went on to serve as President of the NAACP’s Virginia Council in Falls Church VA and led the fight of Massive Resistance.
E. B. Henderson also wrote many letters to the editor, especially after his retirement, to local newspapers in Washington, D.C. and Virginia. He claimed to have had more than 3,000 published. The majority of the letters concerned race relations and sought equality for African Americans in the United States as well as the local Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
I have found dozens of those letters in the Washington Post archives and only searched the 1950’s. He suffered no fools and freely wrote about everything going on in the local area. On April 3rd 1950 he wrote a letter of gratitude to Armistead Booth (Alex) for his work on introducing bills that would “review and study all the laws that relegate Negros to the status of second-class citizenship” Although the bills were narrowly defeated, Mr. Henderson pointed out not a single opponent presented arguments. He concluded by writing “However the rising tide of sentiment and support for human rights for all citizens evinces hope for a better brand of statesmanship.” (That is evidence to me that things were far from perfect, but obviously had been improving over the years)
In addition to his letter writing most interesting are the extensive oral interviews conducted. Dr. Henderson seems to have every detail, every story, every owner’s name and all the history on Falls Church and the surrounding areas. His wife was a Fairfax County teacher and he was President of the NAACP (Falls Church) in 1958, one of the most active chapters in the United States. The NAACP was heavily involved in filing suits to speed integration. He was interviewed extensively as to our local history during that era and before.
Dr Henderson goes on to say that in 1956-57, I use to say….”A Falls Church citizen was President of the Virginia State NAACP during the years of most of the controversial history. I was president then, and I talked before the legislature and led most the lawyer’s fights against “Massive Resistance.”
In the Oral History (1962) JEB Stuart High School is mentioned by the interviewer in the context that her son just graduated from JEB Stuart, Henderson’s only remark is.” Oh, that’s right over here, isn’t it? Later in the same interview he mentions specifically the Massive Resistance movement. He mentions specifically Munson Hill and supplies more detail on the history of Munson Hill, but no mention of the great conspiracy to name J.E.B Stuart H.S. out of spite.
He is asked in the (1969) interview… Question: “Dr Henderson, do you recall any experiences that related to Fairfax County Public schools in your vast experience that it might be interesting to record at this time?” And absolutely nothing about the naming of JEB Stuart High School ever comes up.
Does it make sense that Dr. Henderson, living in Falls Church, who was the dominant force of the day fighting segregation during Massive Resistance, never mentions any of that fascinating local “lore” regarding JEB Stuart? Does it make sense that Dr. Henderson, who wrote prolifically to the Washington Post, never once mentioned the naming of a school for spite? His interviews are available in the Virginia Room/FFX City library.
As an aside, on December 8th 1960 there was a celebration to honor the Henderson’s 50th wedding Anniversary. Among their invited guests were John C Webb and Mr. W.T Woodson (Fairfax County School Superintendent.) John Webb is quoted “…we look forward to the time when all people in Virginia can live in equality and mutual respect and our Negro citizens will be welcome everywhere in Virginia….”
(Fairfax Council Human relations newsletter 1/5/1961/Arlington Library)
Just a couple points of historical clarification… Lee High School was officially renamed Robert E. Lee High School by the Fairfax County School Board on July 16, 1963 at the request of the Lee High School SPTA. Massive Resistance in Virginia ended in January 1959 when Virginia’s Supreme Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court overturned Governor Almond’s order to prevent school desegregation. However, local resistance in some Virginia jurisdictions continued into the 1970s. Fairfax County Public Schools began desegregating its schools in September 1960, through a pupil placement process, and was fully desegregated at the start of the 1965-66 school year.