June 01, 2005

While we're de-Klannifying things...

Only in Alabama! "Ala. School Drops Klan Founder's Name":

The city school board has voted to stop using the name of Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan founder Nathan Bedford Forrest as part of a consolidation plan, a move that ends a long-simmering dispute. Students at Forrest Middle School will move into what is Emma Sansom High School - named after a woman who showed Forrest's Confederate forces where to cross a creek as they chased federal troops in the area...

In other news, you can read a list of the roads, schools, community centers, (am I telegraphing this enough?), outhouses, pork rendering plants, mountains, hills, dales, bends-in-the-road, etc. etc. named after Democratic Sen. Robert C. Byrd here.

Previously: West Virginia: "It's not as bad as you feared". I drove the Robert C. Byrd Highway to Elkins, West Virginia. WV wasn't such a bad place, but, bear in mind I wasn't in the heart of Appalachia, just in the central and northern parts of the state.

Posted to Miscellania at June 1, 2005 12:02 PM

Comments

As I recall Gen Forrest was only briefly involved with the Klan and left when some excesses were committed. You would think he would be remembered as perhaps the greatest cavalry commander in history. But no, ethnic cleansing of the traditions of America must continue.BTW, am I am wrong in thinking that another former resistance movement gone bad(the Sicilian Mafia) has a better name in the US today than Sen Byrd's former outfit?

Posted by: mr civil rights at June 2, 2005 12:09 AM