Thanks to a pointer from Ann Bartow, another laborer in the monument law vineyard, I learn this morning the Jacksonville, Florida School Board voted against changing the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest School (alumni website here). The school was named in the 1950s, apparently at the suggestion of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. One school board member who voted against the change, Tommy Hazouri, said it is difficult to know "who the real Forrest is." At least a few people still think favorably of him: June Cooper, who graduated from Forrest in 1970, said "He was a good man ... He was a military genius." I think it's safe to say that most historians would disagree with Ms. Cooper's first statement.
Alfred Brophy
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