Elementary school named after Confederate general renames itself after Obama

A Richmond, Va., elementary school named after a Confederate general voted on Monday night to rename itself after former President Obama. 

According to local CBS News affiliate WTVR, J.E.B. Stuart Elementary will now be named Barack Obama Elementary School. 

The Richmond Public School board voted six to one to change the name. The new name was among the top three of seven finalists, including Northside and Wishtree. {mosads}

According to WTVR the names were submitted by parents, students, staff and community members. 

The school’s student body, WTVR reports, is about 95 percent African-American. Other possible school names in the final seven honored civil rights leaders including Oliver Hill and Barbara Johns. 

The decision to rename the school comes amid a nationwide debate over remaining markers of the Confederacy and whether Confederate leaders should be memorialized in public works. 

A number of different cities have removed statues of Confederate figures from public spaces and changed names of public buildings honoring Confederate leaders in recent months. 

Florida, for example, replaced a Confederate statue in the U.S. Capitol with a statue of an African-American woman earlier this year.