School Named for Obama Instead of Confederate General

A school in Virginia is being renamed for former President Barack Obama and shedding its original honorific for a Confederate general.

J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School was Richmond's only Confederate-named school but the city's public school board voted Monday night to rebrand the school after the nation’s first black president, CBS News reported.

Out of a choice of seven new names, Barack Obama Elementary School won on a six-to-one vote.

Kenya Gibson’s was the lone vote against the renaming because there was a lack of local names included in the administration’s recommendation, The Richmond-Times Dispatch reported.

"This is Richmond and we are about history and we have so many great local stories to tell," Gibson said. "Our local stories are so important to cherish."

The other school name options had a strong African-American civil rights representation, CBS News said.

About 95 percent of the school's student body is African-American.

J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School is not the first Confederate-named school to be renamed after the 44th U.S. president. Last year a Mississippi school named after Confederate president Jefferson Davis was renamed for Obama.

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