D.C. School Drops Name of Slave-Owning Mayor and Renames it After First Black Principal
When students at the former Orr Elementary School returned to class for the coming school term, they walked into a brand-new building next to the remains of their old school. The building carries a new name, Lawrence Boone Elementary School. The school had previously been named for Benjamin Orr, a former mayor of Washington, D.C., who owned slaves. When the student body found out, they pushed to rename the school after a black principal who had presided over the halls from 1970-1995. Special education teacher Kelly Jones explains why to
WAMU, “As students and as faculty and as people involved in the school, we were like, ‘Well as a predominantly black school, could we have that name represent us, our student body?’ And the students were just like, ‘No that’s not right.’” Though Lawrence Boone died in 2013, his daughter, Littyce Boone was on hand for the opening of the new school. “I’ve gone over to the cemetery,” she tells WAMU. “I was like, ‘Daddy, we did it. Your name. Your legacy, everything is carrying on.’”