NFL legend is assisting in the fight to change name of these Texas high schools
Vivid reminders of the Confederacy are falling, from statues to monuments to names of schools across the nation.
Trude Lamb, a cross-country runner from Tyler, Texas, is leading the charge to change the name of Robert E. Lee High School, where she attends, McClatchy News reported. Lamb, who was adopted from her homeland of Ghana in West Africa, shared a heartfelt story about the horrors of slavery with the Tyler school board and is refusing to wear the Confederate general’s name on her jersey.
Among those backing her is Earl Campbell, who ran roughshod over defenders while playing for Tyler Lee’s rival, Tyler High, before winning the Heisman Trophy at Texas and starring in the NFL, namely for the Houston Oilers.
Campbell was famously nicknamed “The Tyler Rose,” a nod to the city’s rose industry and the athlete’s popularity in his hometown — even after all these years.
These days he uses his powerful voice to support Lamb and everyone else who is fighting racial injustice.
Campbell made it a point to meet Lamb, along with her family, in order to praise her courage, KLTV reported.
He also talked by phone with with Tyler schools Superintendent Marty Crawford about the controversial naming of the city’s high schools — Lee and Tyler.
“I think he was really all about Robert E Lee,” Campbell said, according to KLTV. “And I said no sir, I’m calling because I think it’s time we change both of them.”
John Tyler High School was named after the 10th President of the United States who, during the time of his presidency, owned slaves, according to the White House Historical Association.
A future agenda item?
Crawford brought up his conversation with Campbell during a Tuesday meeting with community leaders, according to the Tyler Morning Telegraph. Crawford had said that Campbell brought up the name change and supported it as a “future agenda item that could be considered by our board,” the Telegraph reported.
Others jumped in and expressed their thoughts and backed Campbell and Lamb.
“If it gets put on the agenda it’s not just going to be one name its going to be both (Robert E. Lee and John Tyler High) and quite frankly it needs to be both,” Fredonia Baptist Church Pastor Kilton McCracken Sr, told the Telegraph. “I don’t want to send my son to any school named after someone with ties to the Confederacy.”
Campbell said that he had been following Lamb’s story about petitioning for the name change and praised her for her courage, KLTV reported.
“I think when I read about Trude, I said you know there’s no sense in hiding it no more. People in Austin been into me about making a statement about UT about this, I said I’m gonna wait until its time and I knew Michael Coleman was in Tyler and that’s who can make me talk,” he said to KLTV.
Not everyone agrees with Lamb, Campbell and the other change advocates when it comes to renaming the schools. On KLTV’s Facebook page, took to arguing in the comment section under Campbell’s segment.
“Well, Earl Campbell can foot the bill. I am surprised really, that he would want the name of his alma mater changed,” expressed one user.
“I’m not opposed to name change but don’t steal from my pockets or my table i don’t have kids in school but I have to pay school taxes which I don’t mind paying but if your changing the name stay out of my pockets. Here I have an idea everyone who wants the name change let them start fundraiser and let these people pay for it,” said another.
Tyler Lee’s ties to Confederacy
Tyler Lee has a long history of racism that dates back 130-years, however, the then-all white school was named after the Confederate general in 1958. The Tyler school district wasn’t desegregated until 1970, which was the same year a group named the Black Liberation Front attempted to change the school name, which the school board declined, according to the Tyler Loop.
In 1972 the school got rid of its Rebel mascot, Confederate flags and the fight song “Dixie,” the unofficial anthem of the Confederacy, according to the Tyler Loop. The school’s name, however, has renamed untouched.
But in the wake of George Floyd’s death while in police custody, civil rights advocates have now taken aim at statues, monuments and building names that have historical ties to slavery and the suppression of Blacks. A cultural shift to remove racist stereotypes from America’s past is also being felt in the business world, with popular brands like Aunt Jemima’s breakfast products being retired from store shelves.
This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 4:54 PM.