Two Montgomery Schools Drop Confederate Names, Adopt New Mascots

Two Montgomery schools will now have new colors and mascots after dropping Confederate names.

Montgomery Public Schools announced new looks for JAG and Dr. Percy L. Julian high schools, two schools formerly named for Confederate leaders Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis.

Officials voted last year to rename one high school for Percy Julian, a Montgomery-born African American chemist, and the other for a trio of white and Black civil rights figures: Judge Frank Johnson, Ralph Abernathy and Rev. Robert Graetz.

JAG High School will get a jaguar; Percy Julian High School will get a fiery phoenix, according to a hype video released Monday.

They will replace the Lee High “Generals” and the Jefferson Davis “Volunteers.”

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Robert E. Lee High School in Montgomery opened in 1955 and would remain all-white for nine years. Jefferson Davis High School was named a decade later. Today, both schools are predominantly Black.

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