The school board in Salt Lake City, Utah, has voted to change the name of the city’s oldest elementary school, the Andrew Jackson Elementary School. The board voted to adopt the name, “Mary Jackson Elementary School,” after NASA’s first female African-American engineer.
The school’s name had been under consideration for a number of years. The board said it did not make the change until it was determined that 73% of parents, alumni and other community members supported the change. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, the school prides itself on its diverse population. Eighty-five percent of students at the school are children of color.
An outcry over statues and other memorials named after Confederate heroes has been building for years with activists calling for the removal of such memorials or changes to their names. Many supporters of the monuments staying as they are say they are an important link to the nation’s past.