Va. city's law requires new N-S streets to be named after Confederate generals; considers repeal
Source: Alexandria Times
The names Beauregard, French, Gordon and Van Dorn have two things in common. First, they’re streets in the West End. And second, they’re all names of Confederate Civil War generals, none of which are from Alexandria, let alone Virginia.
City Councilor Justin Wilson wants to strip a 1950s ordinance that mandates new city streets running north-south be named after rebel military leaders, along with other laws that he says are antiquated or irrelevant today.
... A 1952 article in The Washington Post, written by the aptly named Robert E. Lee Baker, said the ordinance came after the city annexed West End neighborhoods in 1951. The regulation ensured that newly acquired streets were named consistently.
... But Audrey Davis, director of the Alexandria Black History Museum, noted that a few of the areas that have streets named in honor of those who fought for southern secession were black enclaves, particularly in the Fort Ward neighborhood.
Read more: http://alextimes.com/2014/01/no-more-dead-confederates/