FARGO, N.D. (AP) - The name Woodrow Wilson will be removed from the Fargo high school.
The decision by the school board Tuesday and comes after a survey of residents found the majority favored dropping the name of the 28th U.S. president because of racism. Some community members had urged such a move for years.
Those advocates say they feel the school board did not take the process seriously until racial tensions around the country were heightened this summer, KVRR reported.
“It took the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain and so many others to get us here,” said supporter Jim Shaw. “The name should have been gone years ago.”
Those who have continued to fight for the removal of the name were in attendance for the board’s decision.
“It is really satisfying to see the school board unanimously do the right thing and to make a strong statement against racism and for racial equality,” said Faith Shields-Dixon.
The renaming process will begin immediately for the school board. The name change will take effect at the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year.
Wilson was a segregationist who wrote a history textbook praising the Confederacy and the Ku Klux Klan. The Virginia-born Wilson worked to keep blacks out of Princeton University while serving as that school’s president.
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