Petition Asks to Change Name of J.E.B. Stuart High School

A group who say they are JEB Stuart alumni and other concerned citizens has launched an online petition to change the names of several Fairfax County public schools including “high schools that bear the names of Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and J.E.B. Stuart and prominent segregationist W.T. Woodson.”

Fairfax County’s J.E.B. Stuart High School is located at 3301 Peace Valley Lane in Fairfax County.

The school is named for James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart who was a United States Army officer from Virginia who later became a Confederate Army general during the Civil War.

The petition, posted to change.org, so far has 465 supporters; it is directed at Fairfax County School Board Member Sandy Evans, who represents the Mason District.

Debate over the flag and other Confederate symbols rose in the weeks after Dylann Roof allegedly opened fire on a traditionally black Charleston church, killing nine, on June 17.

Roof was associated with hate groups and had posted pictures of himself with white supremacist symbols, including the Confederate flag.

Also read:

Mayor: Alexandria City Council to Review City’s Confederate Symbols

Speaker Boehner Calls for Review of Confederate Symbols at U.S. Capitol

Watch this video posted on the petition page and on YouTube about the school and its names, and views by students and others about it: