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Emory University to rename campus buildings linked to racist history
Several students were unaware of Emory University's complex past. The university's president already announced plans to renamed one building.
ATLANTA - Emory University will rename some campus buildings as administrators work to reconcile its disturbing history with slavery.
The university is in the process of researching its legacy of racism…and honor slaves tied to the school and indigenous people.
"It was upsetting but not surprising honestly," rising junior Joseph Chamoun said after learning about the school's history.
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Several students we talked with Tuesday are just now learning about this painful chapter in the school's history.
"I've heard several stories that the president is very serious about the issue that you're discussing. I think the message is to just to let more students know what happened," senior Bowei Deng said.
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President Gregory Fenves just released a letter announcing plans to rename the Longstreet-Means Hall to Eagle Hall.
The change comes after a community task force discovered that Augustus Longstreet used his platform as president in the mid-1800s to promote pro-slavery views.
Fenves said the task force, which was created to examine the school's complex history, found that Longstreet opposed abolition and strongly defended slavery and secession.
"A lot of predominately white schools, they're gonna have some history that's not, you know, especially being black, it's not ideal for me," Kallis Taylor, who was on a tour of the school with her family, explained.
The university is also renaming a building on their Oxford campus in honor of a black judge, an Emory alumnus.
Taylor said the administrators coming to terms with painful chapters in their history makes her more interested in enrolling.
"I think that sends a message that despite what happened in the past, you can always try your best to move forward from that," she told FOX 5's Brian Hill.
Emory also plans to develop twin memorials on both campuses to recognize the labor of enslaved individuals who helped build the university.
President Fenves said he's also considering other recommendations from the task force like honoring the history of indigenous peoples at Emory and adopting an official land acknowledgment statement to recognize the that university’s location is on the Homelands of the Muscogee Nation.
"I think it's important to be aware of the history of racism and disenfranchisement that really spread across the south including Emory," Chamoun explained.
Fenves said the committee also recommended removing the names of several other people on campus as well and he's still reviewing that research.
The university has already made plans to establish scholarships for the descendants of slaves that were here.
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