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Richmond Middle School Confronts Past, Changes Name

A middle school outside Richmond is seeking suggestions for a new name. The change comes after almost a year long fight to get rid of the old one. The school is Byrd Middle in Henrico County. 

Jordan Chapman first learned who Harry Byrd was from her high school history teacher.

“When we were talking about segregation and the civil rights movement, he said ‘Hey, did you know there’s a school right down the street that’s named after a segregationist.',” said Chapman. 

Harry Byrd was a dominant figure in Virginia politics for much of the twentieth century. He ran a political machine, supported a poll tax that disenfranchised minority voters, and advocated massive resistance to the re-segregation of public schools.

Learning that history made Chapman think critically about what message the county was sending to students who attended Byrd Middle school - which was opened in 1971.

“I mean it’s easy as a white person to think, ‘Oh whatever, it didn’t matter to me.' But for all of the people at that school who do represent minorities, that’s a lot more close to home for them," Chapman said.  "The fact that the person who your school’s named after wouldn’t have wanted you to go to school, or to that school, or to any school.”

So Chapman joined forces with the parent of a student from Byrd, Anne-Marie Leake, who had had the same thoughts.

“As a parent I just couldn’t picture my child going to a school with that name on the building everyday, going to athletic events with that name emblazoned on uniforms, going to pep rallies where children are joyfully shouting that name, it just doesn’t feel right,” Leake said.  

The two led a group effort to get the name changed -- sending around petitions, raising awareness, and attending school board meetings.

And last week the school board agreed -- voting unanimously to get rid of Byrd’s legacy at the middle school.

The board estimates the cost of changing signs, uniforms and letterhead could be around $100,000.

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