Midland’s Robert E. Lee High School opened in 1961 and was renamed Legacy High School in 2020. Though both decisions were made locally, they reflected broader trends across Texas and the United States.
I really appreciate this article! Thank you for speaking up about what is happening. I hope that the citizens of Midland stand up and voice their opinion against reinstating the Confederate name.
As important as the timeline of when the naming came about, was how it affected the former Carver students who were forced to go to Lee. When it was built, it was quite a ways north of central Midland, and when it was named, everyone (especially the black community) understood that it was meant to be a school for only white students. When desegregation finally came about in Midland, and Carver students were integrated into Lee and MHS, the MHS kids teased the Lee kids incessantly about going across town to Lee where the confederate flag flew (a symbol used at the time by the KKK to scare blacks)and having to hear Dixie played every day.
Thanks, Martie. While I’m trying to point out the motives of the naming in this post, the lasting effects of the naming are what make this still relevant.
I graduated from High School (North Carolina ) in 1976, so I am shocked to see on your timeline that the DOJ had to sue MISD to desegregate, with no resolution until 1977. My father was career military. We moved frequently and my early elementary schools were not integrated (Georgia), but they were integrated after that. I spent my 8th grade year at Goddard while my Dad served in Vietnam. I do not recall a racially diverse class! Now I know why. I naively assumed no minorities lived here.
Branding a school to intentionally plant your (Dixie) flag in the sand to culturally exclude children based on race is evil, as is segregation.
I greatly appreciate this piece. I’ve been struggling to articulate why it’s wrong for us to not only name but rename a school after a confederate general. Even though I’ve read some positive things about Robert E Lee, we all know that’s not the reason for the naming (or renaming) of the school to his name.
The article leaves out the vote by the public to keep the name and that the board promised to abide by that until their bond failed and they chose to change it out of spite. That fact was admitted by a former board member on a local morning radio show.
Thanks for your comment, Stacey. I’m definitely interested in the events surrounding the 2020 renaming. To my knowledge, there was no official public vote on the name—I certainly don’t recall voting in one, and I would have participated if I’d been aware of it. If you have a source for that, or for the radio interview you mentioned (including which board member and which show), I’d genuinely be interested in looking into it.
For this piece, I focused on keeping the scope readable by concentrating on the original naming decision in 1961—when and why the name Robert E. Lee was chosen. My view is that 1961 is foundational to any conversations in 2020 or now in 2025, and that any decisions the school board makes now should start by understanding the full story of that original context.
John Trischetti on one of the morning shows. He was questioned about promising not to change the name of Lee then changing his vote. His answer was that his promise was only if the bond passed.
Thanks for the follow-up. If I end up writing more about the 2020 name change, I’ll definitely look into this further. I had interpreted your initial comment to mean that the board had promised to abide by the results of a public vote, but this clarification sounds more like it was a personal position taken by Mr. Trischitti.
If that’s the case, and since a change in his vote still would have passed the name change 5-2, then it seems like his shift wasn’t the deciding factor. I’m still unclear on the reference to a public vote—I don’t recall one and haven't seen it mentioned anywhere––including the MRT. If you have details on that, please send it along.
It was more public input. After the board voted to change the name they put a committee together to recommend a name. They recommended Midland Lee High School. The board didn't like it and sent them back, and they came back with the same thing. The board then arbitrarily picked Midland Legacy.
Thanks for the clarification. I am familiar with the naming committee, their recommendations, and the board's approval of Legacy as the name. The MRT's account of that from 2020 is at the link below. I do not see evidence of the board voting to change the name in 2020 out of spite for a denied bond. At the time, I understood the board's actions as an effort to change course from the events in the past that I described in this article, and as far as I can tell now, that still seems to have been the case.
I really appreciate this article! Thank you for speaking up about what is happening. I hope that the citizens of Midland stand up and voice their opinion against reinstating the Confederate name.
As important as the timeline of when the naming came about, was how it affected the former Carver students who were forced to go to Lee. When it was built, it was quite a ways north of central Midland, and when it was named, everyone (especially the black community) understood that it was meant to be a school for only white students. When desegregation finally came about in Midland, and Carver students were integrated into Lee and MHS, the MHS kids teased the Lee kids incessantly about going across town to Lee where the confederate flag flew (a symbol used at the time by the KKK to scare blacks)and having to hear Dixie played every day.
Thanks, Martie. While I’m trying to point out the motives of the naming in this post, the lasting effects of the naming are what make this still relevant.
Wonderful article, Daniel.
I graduated from High School (North Carolina ) in 1976, so I am shocked to see on your timeline that the DOJ had to sue MISD to desegregate, with no resolution until 1977. My father was career military. We moved frequently and my early elementary schools were not integrated (Georgia), but they were integrated after that. I spent my 8th grade year at Goddard while my Dad served in Vietnam. I do not recall a racially diverse class! Now I know why. I naively assumed no minorities lived here.
Branding a school to intentionally plant your (Dixie) flag in the sand to culturally exclude children based on race is evil, as is segregation.
I greatly appreciate this piece. I’ve been struggling to articulate why it’s wrong for us to not only name but rename a school after a confederate general. Even though I’ve read some positive things about Robert E Lee, we all know that’s not the reason for the naming (or renaming) of the school to his name.
The article leaves out the vote by the public to keep the name and that the board promised to abide by that until their bond failed and they chose to change it out of spite. That fact was admitted by a former board member on a local morning radio show.
Thanks for your comment, Stacey. I’m definitely interested in the events surrounding the 2020 renaming. To my knowledge, there was no official public vote on the name—I certainly don’t recall voting in one, and I would have participated if I’d been aware of it. If you have a source for that, or for the radio interview you mentioned (including which board member and which show), I’d genuinely be interested in looking into it.
For this piece, I focused on keeping the scope readable by concentrating on the original naming decision in 1961—when and why the name Robert E. Lee was chosen. My view is that 1961 is foundational to any conversations in 2020 or now in 2025, and that any decisions the school board makes now should start by understanding the full story of that original context.
The board member commented on KWEL and apparently they play it all the time.
https://www.newswest9.com/article/news/midland-isd-board-members-being-sued/513-12f3780a-b1ab-4068-98a9-42a201ada7c4
John Trischetti on one of the morning shows. He was questioned about promising not to change the name of Lee then changing his vote. His answer was that his promise was only if the bond passed.
Thanks for the follow-up. If I end up writing more about the 2020 name change, I’ll definitely look into this further. I had interpreted your initial comment to mean that the board had promised to abide by the results of a public vote, but this clarification sounds more like it was a personal position taken by Mr. Trischitti.
If that’s the case, and since a change in his vote still would have passed the name change 5-2, then it seems like his shift wasn’t the deciding factor. I’m still unclear on the reference to a public vote—I don’t recall one and haven't seen it mentioned anywhere––including the MRT. If you have details on that, please send it along.
It was more public input. After the board voted to change the name they put a committee together to recommend a name. They recommended Midland Lee High School. The board didn't like it and sent them back, and they came back with the same thing. The board then arbitrarily picked Midland Legacy.
Thanks for the clarification. I am familiar with the naming committee, their recommendations, and the board's approval of Legacy as the name. The MRT's account of that from 2020 is at the link below. I do not see evidence of the board voting to change the name in 2020 out of spite for a denied bond. At the time, I understood the board's actions as an effort to change course from the events in the past that I described in this article, and as far as I can tell now, that still seems to have been the case.
https://www.mrt.com/news/article/Board-selects-Legacy-HS-as-school-s-new-name-15648892.php