A Mississippi elementary school named after the president of the Confederacy is changing its name in honor of our first Black president! According to reports, Davis Magnet International Baccalaureate Elementary, which is named after Jefferson Davis, will be renamed Barack Obama Magnet International Baccalaureate Elementary for the 2018-19 school year.
“Jefferson Davis, although infamous in his own right, would probably not be too happy about a diverse school promoting the education of the very individuals he fought to keep enslaved being named after him,” PTA President Janelle Jefferson told the board. She went on to say she wants the school’s new name “to reflect a person who fully represents ideals and public stances consistent with what we want our children to believe about themselves.”
Janelle Jefferson told NBC News that the idea actually started from a student’s question.
“They know who [Davis] was and what he stood for,” she said. “This has a great impact on them, because [Obama] is who they chose out of anybody else they could. This is the person that the whole school supported. He was their Number One choice.”
According to reports, parents, students and staff were given two weeks to submit recommendations for the new name and Barack Obama was the winner!
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