A high school in Arlington, Va., could drop half its name to replace it with the name of a famous interracial couple.
Washington-Lee High School is looking to drop the “Lee,” which honors Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, and rename it Washington-Loving High School, after Mildred and Richard Loving, according to an Associated Press report.
The Lovings were a Virginia couple that mounted a legal challenge that made its way to the Supreme Court, leading the court to get rid of the state’s law against interracial marriage in 1967.
Several other Confederate-related monuments have been removed and building names changed after public backlash from critics who said they honored people who owned slaves or were influential in the Confederacy.
Defenders of the monuments argue that removing them is akin to erasing the country’s history.
The school board is also considering a second option: renaming the school as Washington-Liberty.
The decision to completely remove Lee’s name from the high school was made earlier this year. Proposed new names for the school will be discussed at a Dec. 20 meeting.
