Any other schools addressing past honors to racists?

[Anonymous]

I'm a parent at Capitol Hill Day School and a couple of alumni parents told me that the name on the school building, "Dent," is in recognition of Josiah Dent, a lawyer who profited during the Civil War as a Confederate sympathizer, and then later set up white only schools in DC. The building got its name when it was built as a DCPS school, but CHDS kept the name since buying the building in 1980.

CHDS has been great in its inclusivity, but the Dent name is on the building and in all of the school's materials. I know that parents and students organized to change names of several DC schools recently. But have any independents or religious schools taken any action to get rid of these legacy honors dedicated to racists? Any advice?

[Anonymous]

You should talk to members of the Tyler community on how they’ve addressed this and worked through the name change.

This would be interesting to pursue- post Civil War Josiah Dent ran a school that educated poor and working class boys who couldn’t afford to attend during the day. Dent school was named to honor him as an educator. I do t know the right answer but if there’s a community that would engage with this question thoughtfully, it will be the CHDS community. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should talk to members of the Tyler community on how they’ve addressed this and worked through the name change.

This would be interesting to pursue- post Civil War Josiah Dent ran a school that educated poor and working class boys who couldn’t afford to attend during the day. Dent school was named to honor him as an educator. I do t know the right answer but if there’s a community that would engage with this question thoughtfully, it will be the CHDS community. Good luck!

The school he ran was white only.

[Anonymous]

I don’t let that stuff bother me anymore. The half the country is named after racists. The city is named after a racist.

[Anonymous]

I doubt it when you have 47-49% of the country about to vote for a racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should talk to members of the Tyler community on how they’ve addressed this and worked through the name change.

This would be interesting to pursue- post Civil War Josiah Dent ran a school that educated poor and working class boys who couldn’t afford to attend during the day. Dent school was named to honor him as an educator. I do t know the right answer but if there’s a community that would engage with this question thoughtfully, it will be the CHDS community. Good luck!

The school he ran was white only.

Why are you more butt hurt about excluding race versus excluding girls?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should talk to members of the Tyler community on how they’ve addressed this and worked through the name change.

This would be interesting to pursue- post Civil War Josiah Dent ran a school that educated poor and working class boys who couldn’t afford to attend during the day. Dent school was named to honor him as an educator. I do t know the right answer but if there’s a community that would engage with this question thoughtfully, it will be the CHDS community. Good luck!

The school he ran was white only.

There's a wikipedia page on Dent, including that he moved from Saint Louis to DC to make money by taking care of the DC homes of Southern sympathizers who left DC at the start oh the Civil War.

I agree on CHDS being a school that seems to have a good community oriented mission.

[Anonymous]

lol get a life OP

[Anonymous]

I guess if Princeton can take Woodrow Wilson's name off of its famed IR school, then Capitol Hill Day School should be able to sandblast a local bigot's name off of its building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I doubt it when you have 47-49% of the country about to vote for a racist.

I thought more was predicted to vote for her.

[Anonymous]

Slave labor built the Capitol and a whole lot of other buildings and homes in this area. As another poster said, almost every man with something named after him in this area was a racist or benefitted from racism up until recent decades. Where would you even start?

Our school was built on the land of a pre-Civil War farm with slaves. The farm house is still there and houses the administration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Slave labor built the Capitol and a whole lot of other buildings and homes in this area. As another poster said, almost every man with something named after him in this area was a racist or benefitted from racism up until recent decades. Where would you even start?

Our school was built on the land of a pre-Civil War farm with slaves. The farm house is still there and houses the administration.

Yeah, it's all horrific history.

But if a school knows its building is named after someone who profited from southern sympathizers and set up white only schools, it seems like a good idea to stop honoring the bigot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess if Princeton can take Woodrow Wilson's name off of its famed IR school, then Capitol Hill Day School should be able to sandblast a local bigot's name off of its building.

Wilson should be pulled out of the Cathedral and buried upside down amongst Union soldiers at Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess if Princeton can take Woodrow Wilson's name off of its famed IR school, then Capitol Hill Day School should be able to sandblast a local bigot's name off of its building.

Wilson should be pulled out of the Cathedral and buried upside down amongst Union soldiers at Arlington.

I couldn't believe that Wilson is entombed in the National Cathedral. I just looked it up and it's true. That's so fuc(ed up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:lol get a life OP

+1. What I wouldn't give for OP's privilege and spare time...