Elementary school drops Confederate name to become Barack Obama Elementary

An elementary school in Richmond, Virginia, is scrapping its Confederate general name to become Barack Obama Elementary, renamed after the former President, reports CBS News. The Richmond Public School board voted Monday night (June 18) to change the name of J.E.B. Stuart Elementary to Barack Obama Elementary School. The new name was chosen from a total of seven finalists. The vote was six-to-one. The board voted 8-1 earlier this year to rename the school. J.E.B. Stuart was a Confederate general. Students, parents, staff and community members all submitted ideas for the school’s new name. About 95 percent of the school’s student body is African-American. Many of the new school name options represented influential African-American civil rights leaders, including Barbara Johns, Oliver Hill and Henry Marsh. The top three finalist names were Barack Obama, Northside and Wishtree. Obama became the country’s first African-American president after he was elected in 2008. Stuart Elementary was the only school in Richmond named after a Confederate general. Richmond was the capitol of the Confederacy during the Civil War.