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Public schools grappling with Confederate names, images

Public schools around the nation are grappling with whether to remove the names or images of Confederate figures, especially since some of these institutions are now filled with students of color.

The move comes following the violence at a white nationalist rally over a Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia.

There are more than 100 public schools honoring Confederate generals and politicians from the Old South.

The Southern Poverty Law Center says about a quarter of them have student populations that are majority African-Americans. The group says 10 are 90 percent African-American.

The South has the majority of public schools with Confederate names. Several are considering name changes.

In some schools, it's students pushing to change the name - or to keep it. In others, it's alumni or outsiders.

FILE - In this Aug. 21, 2017 file photo, a pedestal wrapped in plastic that had held a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee which was removed from the University of Texas campus in Austin, Texas. With a new school year dawning, education officials around the nation are grappling with whether to remove the names, images and statues of Confederate figures from public schools, some of whom are now filled with students of color who could be descendants of those whom the South fought to keep in slavery. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File) The Associated Press
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