Free Republic

The Battle of Nashville was fought in 1864, but Civil War skirmishing has been plentiful in the city for the past three years — much to the frustration of Vanderbilt University. With strong support from its black students and alumni, Vanderbilt has been waging a legal fight to remove the word “Confederate” from the front of a dormitory. But the move has outraged groups that seek to honor and study Confederate history. On Monday, Vanderbilt announced that it was giving up its battle — although the university will continue to refer to the building without the “Confederate” name in all...

<p>When Jimmie Franklin came to Nashville in 1986 to begin serving as a history professor at Vanderbilt University, he was well aware of the school's conservative reputation.</p> <p>As far as racial segregation and discrimination were concerned, that history was virtually the same at Vanderbilt as it was at the University of Alabama, the University of Mississippi, the University of Georgia and even Emory University near Atlanta.</p>