YORK — Who is Magruder Elementary School named for?
Some say the York County school is named in honor of the village of Magruder, a former Black community that was displaced by the creation of Camp Peary in World War II.
But others say it’s named after Confederate Gen. John Bankhead Magruder, who ordered the burning of Hampton in 1861 and was responsible for the killing or capture of many runaway slaves at the beginning of the Civil War.
If it’s the latter, some community members say they want the name changed. The school board is considering it.
A grassroots group calling itself the Campaign for Honorable and Inclusive School Names is already pushing to rename a middle school in the Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools division because its namesake, William & Mary founder James Blair, owned slaves and advocated for slavery. The group also has its sights on changing the name of Magruder Elementary in York County.
Mary Lassiter, a member of the group, said “it’s time” for the Magruder moniker to go.
Lassiter was among those who spoke at a recent York County School Board meeting in favor of changing Magruder Elementary’s name to Bruton Elementary. She said she and her older brother, Carl, brought up the issue four years ago. Despite attempts to reach out to the division and informing the NAACP of the matter, things weren’t moving forward, she said.
In an October 2024 letter to the board, Carl Lassiter expressed his hopes for the board to follow other school districts in removing the name of a Confederate general from the school. He said he was told the school was named in honor of the village of Magruder, the former Williamsburg Black area, but he believes the village was named for the general.
“I find this rationalization laughable,” he wrote. “According to Donald Smith, an independent researcher, and other scholars, the ‘lost village’ was named in honor of John Bankhead Magruder, a Confederate general. Magruder is the general who ordered the city of Hampton to be burned down and is responsible for the killing or capture of many runaway slaves at the beginning of the Civil War.”
A Daily Press article published on Aug. 29, 1954, states the school was named after the Confederate general.
Speaking to the school board on Feb. 24, Denille Francis said it’s important for students to know the history of the name and its proposed name change. Yvonne Johnson, a former student of Frederick Douglass Elementary School, said when the school was integrated in 1968, Frederick Douglass was renamed to “Magruder Annex” and Black students were “forced to go to a school that was named in the Jim Crow era.”
A new Magruder Elementary opened in 1990.
“Next year marks the 250th anniversary of the founding of our nation,” Johnson told the board. “To have any school named in honor of a traitor to the United States of America, of anyone who defended the institution of slavery is a disgrace and a slap in the face, to all of us. It’s time to rename Magruder to Bruton Elementary.”
School board Vice Chair James E. Richardson said he and other board members have had conversations with Superintendent Victor D. Shandor, noting research and the cost involved if a name change does occur.
“What I’d like to see is us discuss it at one of our upcoming work sessions, hopefully,” Richardson said.
Shandor said both James Carroll, school chief operations officer, and Aaron Butler, student services director, both have researched the topic and are finalizing a report.
“We’re working on it,” Shandor said. “It’s not going to happen overnight.”
Joe Caterine, another member of the Campaign for Honorable and Inclusive School Names, said that “contrary to claims the school division has made in the past,” the campaign has submitted historical documentation with its name change request proving the school was named after the general.
“Regardless of who it is named after, it is against York County school policy to name schools after people,” Caterine said. “Other localities in our area in the past several years have removed the name Magruder from public buildings and roads, and it’s time for York County School Division to follow suit.”
York County resident Michelle Green said it’s the right thing to do.
“Because it honors our ancestors,” Green said. “And it also teaches our children that we don’t we really look up to people who have tried to unjustly hold us back.”
James W. Robinson, 757-799-0621, james.robinson@virginiamedia.com