Removing the Propaganda: SPLC reveals new data on schools whose names
glorify Confederacy and pushes to change them
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Liz Vinson, SPLC Staff Writer | Read the full piece here
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Friend,
In the 1860s, Robert Mills Lusher served as a Confederate tax
collector and then as Louisiana's superintendent of education
following the Civil War. The Reconstruction-era educator wrote in his
journal that the chief goal of education was to "vindicate the
honor and supremacy of the Caucasian race."
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In the last decade of his life, Lusher edited his Louisiana Journal of
Education, where he called for "manual training" for Black
students and the removal of rights from Black citizens. He filled the
pages of his unfinished memoir by reminiscing over a lifetime of
advocacy for white supremacy.
Simply put, Lusher did not believe in educating Black people. But
today, a K-12 public school in New Orleans - one with a majority
Black student population - bears his name.
"What a slap in the face," said Phylicia Richardson, a
Black woman whose daughter attends high school at Lusher Charter
School.
"New Orleans is a predominantly Black city, and Lusher's
mission was just horrible," said Richardson, who is the
school's PTA president.
Richardson, who is also an administrative assistant for the Southern
Poverty Law Center's Children's Rights Practice Group, is
involved in efforts with other parents, students and alumni to change
the school's name to one that does not honor the Confederacy.
In a recent update of its index of Confederate iconography displayed
in public spaces across the country, the SPLC identified an additional
100 schools named for Confederate leaders, bringing the total to 304.
The majority of those schools are in the South.
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Of the schools identified, 85 have been closed or renamed, thanks to
the growing movement to remove Confederate statues and other symbols
across the country. An additional 21 schools have committed to
changing their names but have not yet done so.
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The name of Lusher Charter School is the subject of intense debate,
and the local school system is now in the process of renaming the
building that houses the elementary school, upon which Lusher's
full name is prominently featured. But because the charter school is
operated by a private entity, the Orleans Parish School Board says it
doesn't have the authority to rename the school itself.
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Parents like Richardson disagree.
It pains Richardson that in 2021, the school's name still honors
someone who used his position to promote white supremacy and deny
educational equity to Black people.
"Why would we want our children to go to this school, given
Lusher's mission?" Richardson, 33, asked. "Lusher
didn't want me here, and he wouldn't want my daughter
here. Why do we have to hold on to his name? This is not a small
issue; this is an issue we have to deal with now and not drag our
feet."
READ MORE
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In solidarity,
Your friends at the Southern Poverty Law Center
The SPLC is a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond,
working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy,
strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of
all people.
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