Sydney Boles is the Ohio Valley ReSource reporter covering the economic transition in the heart of Appalachia’s coal country. Sydney received her Master of
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Amy Donofrio stands in front of Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville, Fla. She was suspended from teaching duties after she refused to take down a Black Lives Matter flag from outside her classroom.
Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville, Fla., was segregated whites only until the 1971-1972 school year. Its school colors are blue and gray, the colors of the Confederacy, and its sports teams are called the Generals.
But a lot has changed since the 1970s: Now, the student body is 70% Black. Students run an Instagram page to document racism they experience at school. And a student group called the EVAC Movement, focused on reframing Black youth in Jacksonville from at risk to at hope, met with then-President Barack Obama in 2016 and presented before the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.