SCHOOL NAMED AFTER CONFEDERATE LEADER WILL BE RENAMED FOR BARACK OBAMA [View all]

[RandySF]

A Mississippi elementary school will change its name to honor former President Barack Obama instead of its original namesake, Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

The decision to rename Davis IB Elementary School in Jackson, Mississippi, was announced Tuesday night—the result of a months-long effort by parents to rid the school of its Confederate reference in favor of honoring the 44th president of the United States.

Janelle Jefferson, president of the school's PTA, said the new name will be more fitting for a school with a student population that is 98 percent black.

"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," Jefferson said in a statement, according to The Clarion Ledger, a local paper.



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