Confederate Road Name Replaced On Fort Belvoir To Honor Desegregation

FORT BELVOIR, VA — A Confederate road name on Fort Belvoir has been placed with a name to honor the desegregation of the military.

Fort Belvoir, a U.S. Army base in Fairfax County, announced it renamed Lee Road next to Woodlawn Chapel. The name is now EO 9981 Road, which recognizes the 75th anniversary of Executive Order 9981, which integrated the military armed forces in the U.S.

President Harry Truman signed the executive order on July 26, 1948. The order states "there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin."

Another executive order signed at that time was Executive Order 9980, which integrated the federal workforce.

The renaming stemmed from the Army's Naming Commission, which recommended removing names and references to the Confederacy from all Army assets. According to the Army, Lee Road had been named for Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

In June, Fairfax County's Board of Supervisors approved a proclamation to honor the 75th anniversary of Executive Order 9981. The proclamation was presented at an unveiling ceremony for the road renaming on July 26.

According to the county board's proclamation, generations of African Americans served in the military before desegregation. In late 1947, civil rights leaders A. Philip Randolph and Grant Reynolds formed the Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service and Training, attempting to get Congress to act before turning to Truman. In a letter to the president, Randolph and Reynolds argued that African American youth would boycott the draft unless the military was desegregated.

According to the National Archives, the executive order created "considerable resistance" from the military at first, but most of the military was desegregated by the end of the Korean War in 1953.