Closing Chapter

I am a student at Aycock middle school. Next year this schools name is going to

change to Swann middle school. This essay will inform you on who former Governor

Charles Brantley Aycock was. It will also tell you who Melvin C. Swann and why it was

necessary to change the name representing our school.

Charles Brantley Aycock was born on November 1, 1859 in Wayne County, North

Carolina. He died on April 4, 1912 due to a heart attack. He was a politician, lawyer, and

an educator. Aycock governed North Carolina from January 15, 1901 to January 11,

1905. During his time as governor, he was an advocate for education and after his term,

he traveled around the country promoting education. He supported education for both

whites and blacks. He believed blacks should be properly educated. Only to fill a role

inferior to and in service of whites. He was a white supremacist believing blacks to be

unfit of holding office. He worked to take away the voting rights of the blacks.

Aycock is unfit to have his name honored by a school. He was involved with the

Wilmington insurrection of 1898, a riot that drove all black officeholders out of office and

set Manly's newspaper office on fire. Currently 64% of this schools population are

African American, 100% (hopefully) do not support white supremacy. It sends a bad

message to all students, parents, and teachers to have their school named after a racist

who put his heart and soul into keeping blacks from voting and believed their sole

purpose on this Earth was to help the whites with their endeavors.
 Melvin Chester Swann has made great contributions to this community. He

dedicated 36 years of his career to education. Beginning as a health and science

teacher in 1960. He became the principle of J.C. Price Junior High School by 1969 and

he went on to be the director of student affairs in 1971. In 1993, he was appointed as

the deputy superintendent of the Guilford County Schools system. He distinguishably

improved the quality of education in the community. He was also on many committees,

including N.C. Community College System, N.C. Judicial Standards Commission,

Magnet Schools of America, and the National Association of Pupil Personnel

Administration.

I have talked to a handful of people about the name change of this school. Quite

a few believe it would be erasing the past or brushing racism under the rug. Mia

Carter, a business exploration teacher at Aycock middle school believes this change

was good. She agrees with the name change and is happy to see that people care

about trying to improve our society. She thinks the name change will have a positive

impact on students. Mia Carter states that with the name change there should also be

more attention given to improve the quality of the school as well. As in the building and

the textbooks.

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Sources-
http://www.greensboro.com/obituaries/swann-jr-melvin-chester/article_18eccb3e-
fcd2-59cb-af99-d3ae85f5ed7b.html
5 questions-

Do you think the name of this school should be changed?

How do you feel about Aycock?
How do you feel about Swann
How do you think the students will react to this change?
Do you feel any other changes should accupy the name change, if so explain