Florida High School Named After Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard, Nathan Bedford Forrest, Sparks Community Petition

A Florida high school named after the first Ku Klux Klan "Grand Wizard" and Confederate general, Nathan Bedford Forrest, is currently being petitioned to change its name, the New York Times reports,

While some celebrate Forrest as a Southern Civil War hero, others point out that since he not only was he a KKK leader, he oversaw the systematic slaughter of around 200 black soldiers during the Battle of Fort Pillow in 1864, hardly making him a figure worth celebrating. Before the Civil War began, Forrest owned a plantation in Tennessee with a large number of slaves, and having become so successful in the human trafficking industry, was soon one of the richest men in the South, and soon opened a slave trading business in Memphis.

At the end of the Civil War, Forrest joined the Ku Klux Klan, and served as the first Grand Wizard leader.

A petition on change.org is urging the Florida school district to change the name of the high school, with over 78,000 signatures collected so far. The petition was started by a man named Omotayo Richmond of Jacksonville, Fla., who writes: "The people who live here deserve better than a high school named for the first Grand Wizard of the KKK. The school got its name in 1959, when white civic leaders wanted to protest a court decision that called for integrating public schools. I don't want my daughter, or any student, going to a school named under those circumstances. This is a bad look for Florida -- with so much racial division in our state, renaming Forrest High would be a step toward healing."

However, Marsha Oliver, chief of communications for the Duval County School District, told the New York Times that the decision is up to the school board, so the petition may not have much of an impact.

This was not the first time the high school's controversial name was brought to the attention of the board. Back in April 2007, the School Advisory Council asked the board to change the name of the school, but the panel voted against the change 5-2, but since then, the school board has changed its membership.

"There's a new school superintendent who publicly stated that he would support a push from our community to change the name," Richmond wrote. "Now is the time to right a historical wrong. African American Jacksonville students shouldn't have to attend a high school named for someone who slaughtered and terrorized their ancestors one more school year. In the end, I want my child to be able to go anywhere in Jacksonville and be proud of where she is. That can't happen with Nathan Bedford Forrest High School. Please support changing the name today."