Research Findings
April Board Meeting Copies.pdfSee above the slideshow of our research presentation about Joseph Wheeler and the history of Wheeler High School and the Cobb County School District. You can also watch us present this information to the school board at the April board meeting.
*Both of these resources were sent to the board on April 22, 2021 at the start of the board meeting.
Take a look at this John's Hopkins Draft that outlines criteria for renaming:
Questions to consider:
(1) What do scholars substantially agree to be the person’s prime legacies?
(2) Does the evidentiary record show that the person’s prime legacies included conduct that violates or contradicts COBB COUNTY’s mission and values?
(4) What is the relationship of the person to the COBB COUNTY?
(5) What was the process used to apply the original name? What was the honoree being recognized for?
Here's the link to the SPLC study referenced then as well: https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/com_whose_heritage.pdf
Joseph Wheeler
Bill Thayer, The Georgia Historical Quarterly, Vol. 19 No. 1 (Mar. 1935), pp. 17‑46
Joined the calvary at the start of the Civil War and was mainly stationed in Tennessee
Fought once in Cobb County at the Chattahoochee River
Served in Spanish-American & Philippine-American Wars
Later settled in Alabama and served as a U.S. Representative
Buried in Arlington National Cemetery, 1906
What did the Confederacy Represent?
In 1894, Wheeler gave the speech "Slavery and States' Rights"
Wheeler’s speech also perpetuates the myth of the Lost Cause: a depiction of the Confederacy as a noble endeavor fought to defend the region’s honor and its ability to govern itself in the face of Northern aggression.
“This deeply rooted but false narrative is the result of many decades of revisionism in the lore and even textbooks of the South that sought to create a more acceptable version of the region’s past. The Confederate monuments and other symbols that dot the South are very much a part of that effort.” - SPLC
Relation to Cobb County
Bill Thayer, The Georgia Historical Quarterly, Vol. 19 No. 1 (Mar. 1935), pp. 17‑46
The only bearing Wheeler has to Cobb is the one battle he fought at the Chattahoochee
He also led a “fruitless, “depredation” cavalry north of Atlanta along the railroad, destroying the property of GA residents.
Called “Wheeler’s robbers,” and "plundering, marauding bands of cowardly robbers."
"Much has been said — and is still being said — of the gross misconduct of General Wheeler's men. Their alleged depredations and straggling propensities and their reported brutal interference with private property, have become common by‑words in every county where it has been their misfortune to pass. Public rumor condemns them everywhere; and not a few do we find in Georgia as well as in South Carolina who look upon them more as a band of highway robbers than as an organized military band."
Wheeler continued to fight even after most others had stopped.
Integration of Cobb Schools
Cobb County School Board Archives; Cobb County, Georgia, the Origins of the Suburban South: A Twentieth Century History by Thomas Allen Scott, Professor at KSU
The Supreme Court ruled on May 17th, 1954 in the Brown v. Board of Education case that segregation of schools was unconstitutional
On March 1, 1965, the Cobb County board voted to integrate (2 days before the federal deadline)
The initial integration plan would not have achieved full integration until 1970
Cobb schools celebrated “Uncle Remus” day, “Robert E. Lee’s” birthday, and “Alexander H. Stephen’s” birthday
Background on how Cobb was Forced to Integrate
Cobb County School Board Archives; Cobb County, Georgia, the Origins of the Suburban South: A Twentieth Century History by Thomas Allen Scott, Professor at KSU
“Under pressure from the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW), the Cobb County Board of Education on 1 March 1965 formally agreed to desegregate by a vote of five to one” (pg 361)
This came after multiple attempts by board attorney Harold Willingham to educate the board on the impending effects of the Civil Rights Act
“The failure to sign this form 441-B will immediately delete from our finances approximately $2,500,000.00. In order to replace this money, the taxpayers of Cobb County would have to double the millage for school purposes. To raise this millage would require an amendment to the constitution which cannot be done in the near future.”
“A second course of action would be to cut services and the major source would be to lower teacher’s salaries 15%. This would create catastrophe in the system for our teachers are underpaid at the present time. To eliminate bus services would only save approximately $500,000.00. Therefore, cutting services is not the answer to our problem.”
“The course that we have already taken will fully desegregate our schools in the 66-67 year and, even though the revised statement of policies for school desegregation, I feel, go far beyond the intent of the law, I cannot see us cutting off funds that are vitally needed to educate all of the children of Cobb County.”
“I am convinced that failure to process Form 441-B will instigate immediate non-compliance proceedings. This could then bring about a court order and press on us a more strict compliance with guideline than I can foresee under the present outlined procedures.”
“I have always thought that only power-mad dictators issued ultimatums and compelled the people to follow them, without regard for the law or for the welfare of the people.”
“It is evident from their actions that they don’t consider us capable of governing ourselves. Nor do they intend to give us the opportunity. We have acted in good faith -- why can’t they?
Opening of Wheeler High
Cobb County School Board Archives
April 12, 1961: Schools Buildings Program: East Cobb High School on Holt Rd
June 13, 1962: Board receives suggestions to name new school East Cobb High School
Aug 12, 1964: The Board names Joseph Wheeler High School with no discussion
March 10, 1965: Petition brought to Board to change the name of WHS, no copy of it in could be found in the archives
Wheeler's first yearbook from the 1965-1966 school year contains the excerpt "This is the place which bears the name of Confederate general Joseph E. Wheeler. We are the first classes of Wheeler High School and are proud of the new and modern educational facilities." This signifies the clear distinction the Joseph Wheeler was chosen as the namesake of the school because he was a confederate general. Then and today, his name serves as a symbol of confederate ideology that supported anti-integration sentiments during the Civil Rights era.
Present Day
What was once a very heavily white school is now 74% minority, with 39% Black, 26% white, 20% Hispanic, 12% Asian, and 2% other. - U.S. News
Wheeler is ranked as the sixth most diverse high school in Georgia, and #102 nationally. - niche.com
At the beginning of June 2020, at least 227 schools in 19 states were named for men with ties to the Confederacy, an Education Week analysis of federal data found. Since June 29, at least 26 of the Confederate-named schools have changed names. - Edweek.org
Wheeler is one of only seven Georgia high schools named after a confederate and is the only one that doesn't share the county's name.
Atlanta Public Schools voted just a few months ago to rename Grady High School.
The Southern Poverty Leadership Conference tracks Confederate memorial sites around the country. They consider “Joseph Wheeler High School” to be the last confederate memorial in the Marietta area. The organization has also written letters to each of the Cobb board members in support of a name change.
The name 'Joseph Wheeler' does not even fit into Cobb's current building naming policies, as FDC-R Rule A. 2. b) states "The person must have made a significant educational, historical, or social contribution in the community." Joseph Wheeler made only a minuscule impact on Cobb, and it was done fighting for the confederacy.
Data from our local survey with over 6,000 supportive written responses shows significant and overwhelming support for a name change.