An elementary school in New Jersey has removed “Jefferson” from its name over former President Thomas Jefferson’s history of owning slaves.
Jefferson Elementary School, located in the state’s South Orange-Maplewood School District, will now be known as Delia Bolden Elementary when classes begin Sept. 8. Bolden was the first black woman in the area to graduate from high school.
The students had a list of options to choose from, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg Elementary and New Legacy School. Students began the initiative to change the name.
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“Seeing the work that (the students) did, I think, exceeded the expectations of all of us who participated in that conversation, when that was the final outcome, to really engage our students and make this a real-life civics lesson with really strong connections to governance,” Superintendent Ronald Taylor said.
The South Orange-Maplewood School District is “54.5% white, 25.5% black, 3.7% Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander, 8.5% Hispanic/Latino, 0.1% American Indian or Alaska Native, and 0.1% Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander,” according to U.S. News and World Report. Delia Bolden Elementary is one of its seven elementary schools.
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Jefferson was known to own as many as 600 slaves in his lifetime, freeing two while he was alive and seven more upon his death. The Founding Father was not from New Jersey, but Virginia.
