In June of 2017, the Charlottesville, Virginia City Council voted to rename Jackson and Lee parks as Emancipation and Justice parks. Instead of memorializing Confederate leaders, they would celebrate contemporary values.
That decision infamously made Charlottesville into the site of a protest and rally that ended with bloodshed, and it thrust America's ongoing battle with its racist history—including the names of parks, monuments and schools—into the national discourse.
That battle came to Monterey County, where an intersection—Highway 68 at Hitchcock Road, just outside of Salinas city limits—was long named "Confederate Corners."
Salinas native AJ Alvero took up the cause of changing the name, with "Campesino Corners" in mind as a replacement, instead honoring the region's history and to celebrate farm workers, or campesinos.
Alvero petitioned the U.S. Geological Survey, for a new name. The County Board of Supervisors joined in, and voted 5-0 to ask USGS to rename the spot.
And he was relentlessly bullied in the process, with residents piling on to call him names on social media.
In April, the Board on Geographic Names voted 10-2 to change the name from Confederate Corners to Springtown.
It's not the Campesino Corners that Alvero or County Board of Supervisors Chairperson Luis Alejo wanted, but it's something: "I supported Springtown as a compromise," Alejo says. "My primary goal was to make sure we changed that Confederate name."
(1) comment
I remember reading The Wayward Bus and wondering why John Steinbeck chose the place name Rebel Corners for the setting of his novel. I had no idea Confederate Corners even existed until AJ Alvero started his campaign. Glad I discovered the reference before the name change wiped it off the map, so to speak.
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