A federal judge has ordered the Shenandoah County School Board in Virginia to remove Confederate names from two of its schools, ruling that the board’s action violated the civil rights of Black students. The decision requires the removal of the names Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Turner Ashby from Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby-Lee Elementary School.
U.S. District Judge Michael F. Urbanski found that the board’s reinstatement of the Confederate names could not be separated from racial discrimination. He noted that the Confederate generals opposed desegregation and fought to preserve a system that enslaved Black Americans. The ruling comes nearly two years after the school board had initially removed the names in 2020 following protests sparked by the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, which triggered nationwide demands for racial justice and a re-examination of symbols linked to the Confederacy.
The names were temporarily replaced with Mountain View High School and Honey Run Elementary School but were reinstated in 2024 after a new school board reversed the earlier decision. The Virginia State Conference N.A.A.C.P. and local students challenged the decision in court, arguing the reinstatement ignored the racist origins of the Confederate names and their historical context as symbols of white supremacy and resistance to school integration.
Plaintiffs’ counsel Kaitlin Banner emphasized that the board acted with “full awareness” of the Confederacy’s defense of slavery and its role in opposing desegregation during the 1950s, when the schools were originally named. She highlighted testimony from students describing the psychological harm caused by attending schools bearing Confederate names, saying it made them feel unwelcome and undervalued.
The school board’s defense centered on the argument that historical interpretation is subjective, with attorney Jim Guynn contending that there is no definitive “capital T” truth in history. The defense suggested the original naming in the 1950s might have been motivated by factors other than racial animus, such as military respect for the Confederate leaders’ prowess. Guynn announced plans to appeal the ruling and predicted the case could reach the Supreme Court, warning it might provoke broader challenges to school names nationwide.
The dispute follows a prior ruling by Judge Urbanski that the Stonewall Jackson High School’s use of “Generals” on extracurricular uniforms violated students’ First Amendment rights by effectively forcing them to serve as symbols endorsing the Confederate legacy.
Shenandoah County, which is about 90 percent white, experienced significant tension following the 2020 racial justice protests. The local school board initially supported removing Confederate names, influenced by a call to action from then-Governor Ralph Northam and a county resolution condemning racial injustice. However, the subsequent reversal in 2024 reignited controversy and legal battles over the legacy of the Confederacy in public schools.