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Across South, a push to change Confederate school names

Robert E. Lee high school
Associated Press

 

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A renewed push has emerged to rename schools named for Confederate figures amid ongoing nationwide protests over police misconduct and racial injustice. 

The Southern Poverty Law Center says more than 100 public schools are named for Confederates. Many were founded during the days of segregation as all-white schools but now serve mostly African American students.

School systems in Alabama, Texas and Virginia have voted in recent  months to change school names. But doing so is not always easy because of local resistance or state laws.

The SPLC says about 40 schools have been renamed, or closed, in the past few years.  

The Associated Press is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, it's a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members.
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