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News U.S. News Confederacy Sch

Confederate General's
Descendant Rebukes
Decision to Honor His
Ancestor
Published May 11, 2024 at 1:02 PM EDT

Updated May 12, 2024 at 12:12 PM EDT

By Rachel Dobkin
Weekend Reporter

FOLLOW

165

A descendant of Confederate General

Stonewall Jackson has rebuked a
decision from a Virginia county school
board to honor his ancestor on CNN's First
of All With Victor Blackwell on Saturday.

On Friday, the Shenandoah County School

Board voted to restore the names of two
schools that were previously named after
Civil War Confederate generals.

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___

In July 2021, Stonewall Jackson High and

Ashby Lee Elementary were renamed
Mountain View High School and Honey
Run Elementary School as schools across
the country have done with names and
symbols associated with the Confederacy
following Black Lives Matter (BLM)
protests that hit a peak in 2020.

However, the school district, which is

predominantly white and Republican,
became the Zrst to reverse its Confederate
name-stripping. After the 5-1 vote, the
elementary and high school will go back to
their previous names honoring three well-
known Confederate generals—Robert E.
Lee, Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall"
Jackson and Turner Ashby.

Jackson worked alongside Lee,

commander the Army of Northern Virginia,
during much of the Civil War. Jackson and
his troops played an instrumental part in
several battles—the Second Battle of Bull
Run, the Battle of Antietam, the battle of
Fredericksburg and the Battle of
Chancellorsville.

Newsweek reached out to the chairman of

the Shenandoah County School Board
Dennis Barlow via email for comment.

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The Confederate battle dag dies at the South Carolina

state house grounds on July 8, 2015, in Columbia,
South Carolina. A descendant of Confederate General
Stonewall Jackson has rebuked a decision from a
Virginia county... More SEAN RAYFORD/GETTY
IMAGES

The great-great-grandson of Jackson,

Warren Christian, joined the dissenting
voices of the decision to restore
Shenandoah County's school names.

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Christian told CNN's Victor Blackwell on

Saturday morning that he was "saddened"
and "disappointed" in the decision.
However, he added: "As a Zrm believer in
democracy, public schooling and local
control of schools, I respect their right to
rename the school, and I respect their right
to do what is morally wrong."

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Jackson's descendant talked of a

"courageous" eighth grade student named
Aaliyah "who stood up in front of the
school board and she said, 'I'm a Black
student and if the names are restored, I
would have to represent a man who fought
for my ancestors to be slaves. That makes
me feel like I'm disrespecting my ancestors
and going against what my family and I
believe.'"

Christian questioned how the school board

could vote to restore the names "after that
brave student and others so clearly and
cogently explained how that this would
harm them."

Blackwell then asked Christian's thoughts

about an argument made by the Coalition
for Better Schools, who pushed to restore
the names. The coalition said in a letter to
the Virginia school board, "We believe that
revisiting this decision is essential to honor
our community's heritage and respect the
wishes of the majority."

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Christian responded to the coalition's

argument: "I think it's important to
remember our heritage, to honor our
heritage, to honor our history, remember
our history and most importantly, to learn
from our history.

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"And to me, the most important lesson

from the Civil War was really simple—
slavery was wrong and slavery that was
justiZed by a strong belief in white
supremacy that put white people at the top
of a racial hierarchy and Black people on
the bottom, so strong that it made it seem
OK for one person to enslave another is
also just very clearly wrong."

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About the writer

Rachel Dobkin
FOLLOW

Rachel Dobkin is a Newsweek reporter based in

New York. Her focus is reporting on politics.
Rachel joined Newsweek in ... read more

To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, click

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Conversation (165)

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Prime Minister
2w ago
Claim: Symbols that offend some
people shouldn’t be removed. The First
Amendment says we have freedom of
expression.
Reality: Individuals still have the First
Amendment right to fly a Confederate
flag – even if it offends people. But our
go...
See more
Reply · 52 7 ·

Prime Minister
2w ago
Blacks are Americans and until
this country accepts that fact,
nothing will change. Out of all the
cultures besides native, and
English, Blacks have been here
the longest and contributed the
most towards the establishment of
this Republic ...
See more
Reply · 41 12 ·

1 reply

B Bluhorizons
2w ago
In the years before the Civil War—
Cotton was South’s major commercial
crop. By 1850, of the 3.2 M slaves in
the country’s 15 slave states, 1.8 M
were producing cotton--more than 2/3
of the world’s cotton. Slaves were the
driving force of ...
See more
Reply · 31 6 ·

S Steve
2w ago
The south and many states are
trying to bring back the 1860's.
That is the true purpose and
platform of the Republican party.
Reply · 31 15 ·

1 reply

J JeffJeffries
2w ago
Yeeeeehawww....
Common sense and middle ground are
avoided once again.
That was a close one.
Reply · 19 ·

tafugate
2w ago
nothing wrong with naming things after
notables in history. even the infamous
ones. IF, people didn't consider them
as rallying cries or moral examples. if
people understood the civil war and
slavery was a dark time in u.s. history,
and...
See more
Reply · 17 9 ·

Raj Seshu
2w ago
What about the John Wilkes
Booth Memorial Park? Or the
Benedict Arnold Recreational
Center? How about the Charles
Manson Junior High?
Reply · 33 5 ·

2 replies

C Craig
2w ago
That’s why so many places are
named after Hitler in Germany…..
oh wait.
(Edited)
Reply · 36 7 ·

1 reply

Larry Knight
2w ago
Two other changes the school board
made include (1) the song "Dixie' will
now be sung at all school meetings and
games and (2) optional David Duke
attire will be the preferred dress at
school board meetings.
Reply · 20 14 ·

J JeffJeffries
2w ago
Yeeeeehawww.....
Reply · 11 1 ·

Show 1 more reply

DF Dan Forster
2w ago
The GOP is once again focusing on the
issues people care most about

Reply · 11 2 ·

1 reply

Toxteth O'Grady
2w ago
Odd. I have never heard of a single
extant school in Germany named after
Hitler or Goebbels or Goering or
Himmler. Nether are their any public
places dedicated to monumental
statues for them. How will German
children learn about history...
See more

Reply · 18 6 ·

1 reply

Edmund Peshall
2w ago
The board is not honoring heritage.
The board is honoring treason.
Jackson was a traitor in the most basic
definition. No doubt about that.