Fairfax County School Board - Seeking School Names to Change - Finds That It is Actually Named After Slave-Trading Woman Abuser

In 2015 the Fairfax County School Board in Virginia began a process to identify institutions which might feature school names to consider for replacement. While the school-board’s process thus far has produced murky and contested candidates, it did inspire JEB Stuart High School students to conduct their own research.

What the student's turned up - ironically - is that it’s the school board’s name itself, astonishingly, that comes up as best target for change as it's named after a notorious slave-trader and woman abuser, Lord Thomas Fairfax the Sixth.

The County’s namesake, Thomas the 6th Lord of Fairfax, it turns out owned 30 plantations on 9,000-acres and built his wealth not just the backs of 100s of working slaves, but through his active participation in the heinous slave-trade industry – a practice which broke up existing families caused extensive hardship for those brought to Virginia against their will. Lord Fairfax is also known to have participated in the act of “bedding down with a negro wench” and died still owning Ninety Seven slaves.

Not only does Lord Fairfax’s name impact the county school board’s name, but his family crest is featured on 1000’s of county vehicles, flags and buildings. Recently, Harvard Law School similarly eliminated its own coat of arms due to the fact that the family of Isaac Royall, whose bequest endowed the first professorship of law at Harvard, was the son of an Antiguan slaveholder. Royall was a full step removed from his family’s slave trade practice whereas Lord Fairfax’s Coat of Arms is a direct representation.

Please help us remove the highly offensive and insensitive Fairfax name and coat of arms from the county’s school board.