Fort Bragg shed its Confederate namesake Friday to become Fort Liberty in a ceremony some veterans said was a small but important step in making the U.S. Army more welcoming to current and prospective Black service members.
FORT LIBERTY, N.C. —
The North Carolina base was originally named in 1918 for Gen. Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general from Warrenton, North Carolina, who was known for owning slaves and losing key Civil War battles that contributed to the Confederacy’s downfall. Several military bases were named after Confederate soldiers during World War I and World War II as part of a “demonstration of reconciliation” with white southerners amid a broader effort to rally the nation to fight as one, said Nina Silber, a historian at Boston University.
“America should not have vestiges of slavery and secessionism and celebrate them,” he said. “We should not laud them and hold them up and venerate them to where every time a Black soldier goes onto the base, they get the message that this base Bragg is named after someone who wanted to keep you as human property.”
But Buxton also called the new choice of name Fort Liberty “off the wall.” He said he would have preferred the base retain the name Bragg but be redesignated to honor Edward S. Bragg, an accomplished U.S. lawmaker and Union general in the U.S. Civil War.
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Fort Bragg to drop Confederate namesake for Fort Liberty, part of US Army base rebrandingFort Bragg is shedding its Confederate namesake to become Fort Liberty in a ceremony some veterans view as a small but important step in making the U.S. Army more welcoming to Black service members.
Read more »
Fort Bragg to drop Confederate namesake for Fort Liberty, part of US Army base rebrandingFort Bragg is shedding its Confederate namesake to become Fort Liberty in a ceremony some veterans view as a small but important step in making the U.S. Army more welcoming to Black service members
Read more »
Fort Bragg to drop Confederate namesake for Fort Liberty, part of US Army base rebrandingFort Bragg will shed its Confederate namesake to become Fort Liberty in a Friday ceremony that some veterans view as a small but important step in making the U.S. Army more welcoming to current and prospective Black service members.
Read more »
Fort Bragg to drop Confederate namesake for Fort Liberty, part of US Army base rebrandingThe change is part of a broad Department of Defense initiative to rename military installations bearing the name of confederate soldiers.
Read more »
Fort Bragg drops Confederate namesake for Fort Liberty, part of US Army base rebrandingFort Bragg shed its Confederate namesake Friday to become Fort Liberty in a ceremony some veterans view as a small but important step in making the U.S. Army more welcoming to Black service members
Read more »
Fort Bragg drops Confederate namesake for Fort Liberty, part of US Army base rebrandingThe change is part of a broad Department of Defense initiative to rename military installations bearing the name of confederate soldiers.
Read more »