Politics

/

ArcaMax

Forts Cavazos, Barfoot and Liberty — new names for army bases honor new heroes and lasting values, instead of Confederates who lost a war

Jeff South, Associate professor emeritus, Virginia Commonwealth University, The Conversation on

Published in Political News

The fort originally honored Col. Edmund Rucker, who served in the Confederate Army under Nathan Bedford Forrest, a leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

On June 13, Fort Polk, a base in Louisiana named after a slave owner and Episcopal bishop, will be renamed for Sgt. William Henry Johnson, who single-handedly held off 20 German soldiers during World War I.

Because of racial segregation in the U.S. military, Johnson’s unit, the 369th Colored Infantry, known as the Harlem Hellfighters, fought under the French Army. He wasn’t awarded the Medal of Honor until 2015 – more than 85 years after his death.

And on Oct. 27, Fort Gordon, a base in Georgia named for a Confederate general who later worked to undermine Reconstruction and reputedly headed the KKK in his state, is scheduled to be renamed for Dwight D. Eisenhower, who commanded the Allied forces during World War II and served as U.S. president from 1953 to 1961.

No date has been set for when Fort A.P. Hill will be renamed for Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, the Army’s first female surgeon, who saved the lives of both Union and Confederate soldiers during the Civil War and received the Medal of Honor.

The renamings so far have come off without controversy – and with no one seriously defending why the bases should continue honoring Confederates.

 

As Trevor Noah said on “The Daily Show,” “Imagine being a Black soldier training at a base that is named after somebody who didn’t even think of you as a human being.”

Celebrities popular with conservatives have praised the base redesignations, too.

For example, Mel Gibson applauded renaming Fort Benning for Col. Moore, whose memoir was the basis for “We Were Soldiers,” a 2002 film starring Gibson.

Several years ago, Troy Mosley, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, formed an organization called Citizens Against Intolerance to advocate for renaming the bases. He attended the ceremony heralding Fort Gregg-Adams – the first U.S. military base named after an African American.

...continued

swipe to next page

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus