Nathan Bedford Forest High School has been embroiled in a push by many to change the name of the Jacksonville Florida facility. The Duval County School Board held a three hour hearing last night and then voted 5-2 to keep the name of the early Ku Klux Klan leader, who was Grand Wizard, first era.
The school was established in 1950 and was all white at that time. The name was chosen by the Daughters of the Confederacy, who saw it as a protest to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that eventually integrated the nation’s public schools. The school’s makeup has shifted over time and is now made up of over 50 percent black students.
Over 140 Jacksonville residents attended the meeting, with an overflow crowd of 20 additional citizens who watched on a television in the lobby. The board is made up of five white members who voted to keep the name intact and two black members who favored a name change.
“Forrest was a terrorist and a racist” argued board member Brenda Priestly Jackson. Board chairman Betty Burney was the other member who voted for a change. One suggestion was to rename the school to honor a Forrest graduate who was killed on the first night of Operation Desert Storm.
Forrest High School has received two consecutive ‘F’ grades on state assessment tests.