You probably know there is a movement afoot to remove Confederate flags, monuments and other symbols of white supremacy from local, state and federal government spaces. That movement picked up steam in 2020 after George Floyd was murdered by police officer Derek Chauvin. Floyd’s death shined a spotlight on racial injustice in the U.S.

That Americans would decide to remove prominent symbols of white supremacy at a time of racial reckoning is not surprising. What is surprising is that the government chose for so long to celebrate the defeated Confederacy with monuments, flags, statues and more.

A federal commission tasked with renaming all U.S. Army bases bearing the names of Confederate generals is getting to work. On Friday, Fort Bragg became Fort Liberty, for example. As sociologist Christopher Justin Einolf writes, one name worthy of consideration is Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas.

I hadn’t heard of Thomas before receiving Einolf’s pitch. But Thomas’ story is fascinating. Raised in Virginia, he went from being a racist enslaver before the Civil War to a Union Army officer during the war – and ultimately a staunch defender of African American civil rights after the conflict ended.

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