Everyone assumes that Greensboro's Lee Street was named after Confederate General Robert E Lee but the City of Greensboro has no proof as to the history of the naming of Lee Street as Lee Street was already named Lee Street before it was annexed into the City sometime before 1879. The City of Greensboro has no records as to the naming of Lee Street.
What we do know is that in 1879, East Lee Street was a quiet residential street that dead ended into property that was at that time owned by Bennett College with Gorrell Street and McConnell Road being the major East-West thoroughfare into downtown Greensboro.
I've checked with the City of Greensboro, Greensboro Public Library and Greensboro Historical Museum and so far found nothing to support the idea that Lee Street was named after Robert E Lee. If you ask people that's the first thing they say but nary a researcher has found a document in two weeks of searching. I am now waiting on researchers from Bennett College and Guilford County to supply me with any information they might have. Perhaps I'll be proven wrong.
Is it possible that Lee Street was named after Robert E Lee? Yes, but it doesn't fit the pattern. Antebellum Southerners usually picked major thoroughfares that lead through African American neighborhoods to name after Confederate icons. In those days, Lee Street and all of Southside was pearly white. Gorrell Street and the Warnersville neighborhood would have better fit the pattern. Again, not that Greensboro had to follow the pattern.
Did the African American students at Bennett College sacrifice so that Greensboro could extend Lee Street sometime after 1879? Did Greensboro buy the property or exercise eminent domain? Was Lee Street named after one of the early settlers in Guilford County, perhaps one of the 18 or so free African Americans who worked to found Greensboro and Guilford County? Or was Lee street named after a newly freed slave in the years after the American Civil War?
The Greensboro City Council is moving ahead full steam to change the name of Lee Street apparently without having done any research into the history of its naming or how it came to be with public meetings tomorrow and Saturday. Could it be there's something they know they'd rather you don't know? Or are they really that careless?
Why is history so important? Because those who don't know history are forever doomed to repeat the bad parts.
What we do know is that in 1879, East Lee Street was a quiet residential street that dead ended into property that was at that time owned by Bennett College with Gorrell Street and McConnell Road being the major East-West thoroughfare into downtown Greensboro.
I've checked with the City of Greensboro, Greensboro Public Library and Greensboro Historical Museum and so far found nothing to support the idea that Lee Street was named after Robert E Lee. If you ask people that's the first thing they say but nary a researcher has found a document in two weeks of searching. I am now waiting on researchers from Bennett College and Guilford County to supply me with any information they might have. Perhaps I'll be proven wrong.
Is it possible that Lee Street was named after Robert E Lee? Yes, but it doesn't fit the pattern. Antebellum Southerners usually picked major thoroughfares that lead through African American neighborhoods to name after Confederate icons. In those days, Lee Street and all of Southside was pearly white. Gorrell Street and the Warnersville neighborhood would have better fit the pattern. Again, not that Greensboro had to follow the pattern.
Did the African American students at Bennett College sacrifice so that Greensboro could extend Lee Street sometime after 1879? Did Greensboro buy the property or exercise eminent domain? Was Lee Street named after one of the early settlers in Guilford County, perhaps one of the 18 or so free African Americans who worked to found Greensboro and Guilford County? Or was Lee street named after a newly freed slave in the years after the American Civil War?
The Greensboro City Council is moving ahead full steam to change the name of Lee Street apparently without having done any research into the history of its naming or how it came to be with public meetings tomorrow and Saturday. Could it be there's something they know they'd rather you don't know? Or are they really that careless?
Why is history so important? Because those who don't know history are forever doomed to repeat the bad parts.
