Robert Montgomerie: Renaming Forrest School Meeting

[Metro Jacksonville]

Robert Montgomerie: Renaming Forrest School Meeting



Robert Montgomerie reports on behalf of the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition after the School Board public hearing to change the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest High School.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2013-nov-robert-montgomerie-renaming-forrest-school-meeting

[jerry cornwell]

 The action taken in the present (the school board members vote) to reflect on the past (the naming of the high school in 1959) should take the priority of
Jacksonville's future. Change the name.

[Sgarey123]

Please read the forum thread. It by far the most intelligent debate online...it covers all areas.

We must not rename the school.

Forrest was a good man who was respected and admired by all. He protected his people at all costs. He is a hero of the South! A South that Jacksonville is a part  of...A South that we are all a part of....everyone.

[Cheshire Cat]

OMG, Sgary123..... he's here, he's there, he's everywhere!  The education we are all receiving is truly amazing, I mean we just learned everyone is now a part of southern history?  Who knew? Sgary your comments give a new meaning to the term "grand delusion". 

[Demosthenes]

complete fabrication.  Jacksonville was only too happy to welcome the union troops here in town.  Forrest is Tennessee's child, not ours. 

Allowing the school to be named after him to celebrate the racism of the 1960s is a true dishonor to him if his supporters are even remotely accurate.

Rename the school out of respect for the dead, if for no other reason.

Four times, to be specific. Jacksonville was occupied 4 times, with little more than a harassing skirmish occurring. Jacksonville may not have been wholly pro-union, but perhaps not quite as southern as some might think.

[kbhanson3]

Please read the forum thread. It by far the most intelligent debate online...it covers all areas.

We must not rename the school.

Forrest was a good man who was respected and admired by all. He protected his people at all costs. He is a hero of the South! A South that Jacksonville is a part  of...A South that we are all a part of....everyone.

Oh boy, here we go again.  Whether this debate is intelligent is itself debatable.  In any event, your arguments for preserving the name miss the point entirely.  Regardless of whether all that you say about NBF is true (and I am not conceding any of it), the fact that he represents something that is very offensive to a significant number of people in our community TODAY is what matters.  If you are successful in your quest to preserve the name, your victory will be to preserve that divisive status quo.  Is that really a victory for our community?  I sense an "us vs. them" mentality in your position, but there is no "them" in our community.  It's only us.

[theduvalprogressive]

A good man orders men, women, and child killed and them burned, buried alive, or thrown in the Mississippi? Whatever. The School Board voted 7 to 0 to start the renaming process today. And yes, Stephen Dare is correct that this city was pro-union during the Civil War. Check the History of Jacksonville which can be googled online. I didn't believe it myself until I read it but Jacksonville really didn't become "pro-Confederate" until people from other areas of the South moved here.

[jerry cornwell]

  This seemingly small incident is a huge step for our city! Congrats to all of you at metrojax that made it happen.
Jax rocks!

[fsquid]

I'd be interested in reading the pro-union stuff myself if you have links.

[pierre]

Just change the name to Ronald Reagan High and everybody will be happy.

[theduvalprogressive]

Agreed. This is a huge, positive step forward. I've learned more about Jacksonville in the last three months arguably than in the last 24 years of living here. The community is far more interested in change than a few election stats may indicate and, arguably, more progressive.

While working the surveys in front of the Winn Dixie I met people who were glad someone was out there talking about things that should happen in the city that noone else was talking about. In fact many were afraid I get attacked and stood out there with me. One lady filled out a survey, got on the bus, told the bus driver about it, and the bus driver stopped the bus and came out and filled out a survey. It was a humbling experience.

In taking the time to research the first article Stephen was so kind to publish I read a lot of history about Jacksonville to find where the city had an active role in the Civil War. I found that the Union maintained almost a constant presence in Jacksonville and that citizens were encouraged by the, then, mayor not to evacuate the city and swore an oath of the community to the Union.

Sure Jacksonville has never been the most open-minded of cities, but compared to other cities in the South, Jacksonville was more moderate and tolerant. Somewhere along the line that changed. I believe it happened when people from other parts of the South came and brought their "mental baggage" with them.  At one point, Bethel Baptist Church had a biracial congregation until more narrow minded elements decided that blacks and whites shouldn't worship together, splitting off to found what would become First Baptist Church and the whites have been "flying" ever since to a point where they can "fly" no more.

I believe changing the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest High School doesn't ultimately change the real problems the school faces being a "F" school, but what it will hopefully do will be to create a culture that will inspire change from the name to the quality of learning. I believe that is possible one folks can put to bed these "tired old" ideas of white supremacy and privilege that caused the renaming in 1959. At least, hopefully, it can be said that it was a bold step towards that.

[theduvalprogressive]

Here is a full archived History of Jacksonville.

http://archive.org/stream/historyofearlyja00davi/historyofearlyja00davi_djvu.txt

[theduvalprogressive]

Is there a better source?

[theduvalprogressive]

I wanted to read more about Dell's Bluff and the other plantations of yore.

[thelakelander]

Is there a better source?

To be honest, you'll never find the real well rounded history from a single source.  Every source is told from a different perspective.  The best way I dig for history is to try and hit it from multiple angles. Unfortunately, that means investing a lot of time in several places and then pulling the pieces together by timeline.