Some roads and facilities in Loudoun County, Virginia, will be changed or removed for their Confederate and segregationist connections.
A dozen names in total are being considered for a change or removal as the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted to move forward with its plan that began in September 2020.
The names include Confederate Court, Fort Johnson Road, Early Avenue, Hampton Road, Harry Byrd Highway, Jackson Avenue, Jeb Stuart Road, John Mosby Highway, Lee Drive and Longstreet Avenue.
The Board of Supervisors said that the signage for the Mosby Heritage area and Pickett Road will be changed as well.
But Chair Phyllis Randall (At-Large) said the changes won’t be happening overnight: “It won’t be done without public input and it won’t be done quickly.”
The board said it will be looking into additional names submitted by the public, that are not already included in the current list, to see if any more should be added.
Schools are not being included in this effort because the board said Loudoun County Public Schools is already doing its own work to review those names that are questionable on school buildings.
For Randall, one name that stuck out to her was Wade Hampton, for which Hampton Road is named after.
“I’ve done deep research on all of these names,” Randall said. “He was just a really bad human being … and he wasn’t even in Virginia.”
Vice Chairman Koran Saines (Sterling District) said he doesn’t understand why some people are fighting back.
“I’m appalled and shocked that people are still emailing us. Believe it or not, they are still emailing us, saying we should not be changing street names,” Saines said. “Maybe people are unaware of what these individuals did.”
