A 95-year tradition at the heart of St. Christopher's School is changing because of its association with two Confederate generals from Virginia.
The private Episcopal school in Richmond is changing the names of its elementary literary societies from the Lees and Jacksons to the Chamberlayne Reds and Chamberlayne Grays in honor of school founder Churchill Gibson Chamberlayne. The school's colors are red and gray. The changes take effect next school year.
In the school's letter Wednesday to parents and alumni about the name change, Headmaster Charley Stillwell said that in recent years, "history has attached a stigma of prejudice and intolerance to some individuals and symbols connected with the Confederacy, making some of our internal and external community feel uncomfortable and marginalized."
The change comes after years of discussion about how the references to Civil War Gens. Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson made some within the St. Christopher's community feel less connected to the school, Stillwell said.
Some "take pride in the names and . . . those important character traits that they represent," such as courage and leadership, loyalty and perseverance in the face of adversity, Stillwell said.
"At the same time, some members of our alumni and school family have also expressed to us an awkwardness to the names," he said.
The literary societies help elementary students at the all-boys school develop public-speaking skills and a sense of teamwork, creativity and self-esteem. Boys are assigned to teams when they start school and stay on those teams throughout elementary school.
Sam Bemiss, president of the alumni board, said the change "was an opportunity to honor [Chamberlayne]," particularly as the school approaches its centennial celebration next year. "He stood for the same quality that [Lee and Jackson] stood for."
Bemiss also said every constituency within the school community had a voice in the matter.
But a growing number of St. Christopher's students and graduates recently have expressed concern with the name changes.
Recent graduate Turner Blake created a Facebook page, which had about 475 members as of last night, to support keeping the Lee and Jackson names.
"I feel like they're bowing to a very small group of people who don't really think the traditions of the school are very important," Blake said.
Hunter Carpenter, a 2003 alumnus, said it's not the change that he most laments but the opportunity that was missed by school officials to have a meaningful conversation about the history of Virginia and Richmond.
"I understand the change," he said -- Lee and Jackson are synonymous with the Confederacy, and "that makes people very uncomfortable and brings up some dark things from our state and our city's past."
However, Carpenter said the school is "taking parts of our rich history -- that's also a checkered history -- and ignoring it for fear . . . rather than learning from it."
Terry Price, associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Richmond's Jepson School of Leadership Studies, said: "I think it is a mistake to equate the name change with a missed chance to understand our history.
"Having a literary society or building or scholarship named after an individual insulates that person's character from critical discussion more so than it prompts moral reflection and analysis," he said.
"If they want students to understand these two men, with all their virtues and failings, they are better served moving away from a practice that necessarily implies veneration."
Contact Holly Prestidge at (804) 649-6945 or hprestidge@timesdispatch.com.
Staff writer Michael Paul Williams contributed to this report.
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