SPLC Action Fund Calls for Montgomery Public Schools to Rename Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and Sidney Lanier High Schools

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – On Tuesday night, July 14, during a board meeting of the Montgomery Public Schools, a group of alumni, students and community members will call on members to eliminate Confederate iconography and rename Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Sidney Lanier high schools.

The following statement is from SPLC Action Fund Chief of Staff Lecia Brooks:

“Alabama communities have slowly joined the nation in removing hurtful symbols and names that honor the Confederacy on public property, including the names of schools that young people attend. Keeping these names and statues in place only continues to promote the legacy of white supremacy and commemoration of such ideology has no place in public spaces like schools.

“We join concerned students, alumni and other members of the Montgomery community in calling on the Montgomery County Board of Education to make the right decision by voting to remove any and all names and symbols associated with the Confederacy, which celebrates a brutal and inhumane past.

“Enough is enough. Our children should not be hurt or forced to reckon with imagery that glorifies those who fought to keep Black people enslaved and uneducated.”

The SPLC does not support erasing history, nor the defacing and/or destruction of any historic artifact. Learn about Confederate symbols on public land in the SPLC’s “Whose Heritage?” report.

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