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As hundreds of people petition Freeman High School to change its Confederate nickname, dozens of others are upset that another West End school is named for two prominent Confederate leaders.
There’s just one problem: it isn’t.
Although Henrico’s Jackson Davis Elementary School evokes the names of Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis, it’s actually named for former Henrico Superintendent Henry Jackson Davis, a white man who – perhaps ironically, given the confusion – was known as an early champion for the education of blacks.
It was Davis who, as a 24-year-old superintendent in the early 1900s, helped advance the career of now-legendary black teacher Virginia Randolph and her efforts to craft a teaching program for other black teachers in the county. Those efforts ultimately resulted in her creation of the Henrico Plan, a model that was implemented throughout the South.
Davis served as the county’s superintendent from 1905 to 1909, then left to spend six years as state agent for African-American rural schools for the Virginia State Department of Education (a role for which he traveled the state meeting with black teachers and students).
In 1915, he left for a role with the General Education Board, a philanthropic entity that supported higher education and helped rural schools nationwide. Davis spent 30 years with the group, eventually becoming its vice president and director in 1946 – one year before his sudden death.
In 1943, he was instrumental in helping to create the United Negro College Fund, which to this day provides scholarships for black students who attend 37 historically black colleges and universities. The school that bears his name opened in 1962.
“It’s a good time to put this rumor to rest,” said Three Chopt District School Board member Micky Ogburn, whose district includes the school, about the confusion surrounding Davis’s name.
Ogburn estimated that she had received about two dozen emails or phone calls in recent days from people upset that the school’s name hasn’t been changed. Calmly, she has explained to each one the background of the man whose name it actually carries.
“As soon as they find out the truth behind the school they all go, ‘Oh I’m so glad to know that – but can we do something to let other people know?’” she said.
The school system has tried, providing a brief biography of H. Jackson Davis on the school’s website, and a photo of him in the school’s cafeteria. But, Ogburn said, that doesn’t seem to be enough.
So now, officials are crafting ways to tell his story more prominently. One possible change: the incorporation of Davis’s first initial into the school’s official name wherever it appears. A new marquee at the school may carry the initial, Ogburn said.
Other ideas: moving the photo of Davis to a more prominent location in the school’s office and providing a clearer explanation on the school’s website about the man for whom it’s named. (School system officials are working on that update now, Ogburn said.)
Ogburn hopes word will reach all of those who may be erroneously upset about the school’s name.
“Nobody should have this on their mind,” she said.
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