For decades, students in Hanover County, VA were forced to attend middle and high schools that glorified the names and values of the Confederacy. Black students in particular endured a hostile school environment that derived directly from the naming of the schools after Confederate generals and their defense of slavery.
The Washington Lawyers’ Committee represented the Hanover County NAACP in litigation to change the school names. In the summer of 2020, amidst the nationwide racial justice reckoning that resulted in the tearing down of Confederacy symbols across the Virginia, the school board at last votes to change to names.
Read more from our Press Room:
Hanover NAACP Sues County to Change Names of Local Schools Glorifying the Confederacy
Committee Appeals Case Against Hanover County Amid Black Lives Matter Protests
Hanover County School Board Votes To Change School Names Glorifying Confederacy
