Despite being intended to create unity among the community, the proposal to rename Concord Middle School (CMS) has become an issue of contention. CMS was previously divided into two campuses: Sanborn and Peabody. Previously, there had existed years of controversy over which school each student attended. These two campuses have since merged in a 100-million-dollar project, during which Concord residents lobbied the school board to change the name of the institution to the Ellen Garrison School.
Many residents of Concord are familiar with Ellen Garrison, an African American woman who lived in the town 200 years ago. A Civil Rights activist and educator, Garrison dedicated her life to challenging prejudice in education. As a child, she marched hand-in-hand with her white classmates in a parade through Concord, and throughout her early life, signed multiple petitions calling for equal rights for Black Americans. During the racially hostile ethos of the Reconstruction era, Garrison voluntarily taught in the formerly confederate states of Virginia, Kansas and North Carolina. She was one of the first people in the nation to test the Civil Rights Act in court: Garrison knowingly sat down in a segregated train station in Baltimore and was forcefully removed. Later, she was hailed by many residents as “Concord’s Rosa Parks.” Indeed, she had pioneered this method of peaceful protest a century before Parks’ endeavors.
Garrison’s origins can be traced back to The Robbins House, her childhood home that was later transformed into a museum commemorating Concord’s African American history. Concord Academy History teacher Kim Frederick is a board member of The Robbins House. Fredrick said, “Ellen was amazing. We have a handful of her letters, and she was snarky, and thoughtful, and dedicated to education in a profound way that shaped her life...She's a town hero, and choosing to honor her would reflect well on the town.”
In February, initial voting results led the school board to retain the name of Concord Middle School. Despite a major wave of support behind retitling, many Concord residents still objected to this proposition. One legitimate concern was naming the school after a historical figure at all. It is not uncommon for a previously revered person to become reproached—and certainly, that would be harmful and antithetical to the crux of renaming the school. Yale University, for example, is named after Elihu Yale, whose connection to slavery has summoned considerable backlash for the school. Evanston, the town in which Northwestern University is situated, takes its name from Evans, who failed his gubernatorial role when he instigated the Sandy Creek massacre against Native Americans.
In January of 2024, the Concord Select Board problematic signs inaccurately detailing the founding of Concord. Retaining the name of CMS saves the school board and the town from the awkwardness of potentially needing to change names again. Others thought that choosing one particular figure for the school to be named after did not send a message of unity, especially after years of dispute regarding the two campuses. An even smaller contingents thought that the renaming process would stir up controversy surrounding race, which could further drive the town apart.
However, enormous support for naming the school after Ellen Garrison resulted in another round of voting in May. This time, the people of Concord voted overwhelmingly in favor of change. The decision is non-binding, though: the voting result only mattered as a symbolic gesture with no government action. As of today, the name of the middle school remains unchanged.
When asked how the CA community might approach this issue, Frederick said, “I think students can learn about Concord's Black history and understand that the public face of how the town presents itself is a selected slice of the history that shaped this place. We can't live in the past—that's not productive. [It] can be helpful to learn about the various strands of history that shape a place and, ideally, reframe the narrative.” Frederick’s upper-level public history class in the spring semester of 2024 examined these issues by preparing students to become local tour guides. One member of her class, Gitanjali Belleau ’25 weighed in on the situation: “I think it’s a shame they didn’t name it after her,” she said. “It’s incomprehensible why other middle and elementary schools are named after abolitionists but not this one.” In a town that frequently pays tribute to its celebrated white laureates, like Thoreau and Emerson, do we not have the capacity to also honor a black woman?