By Warner M. MontgomeryWarner@TheColumbiaStar.com

There is a move afoot to change the name of W.J. Keenan High School to Booker T. Washington High School. This is an attempt to revive history, to honor one man by dishonoring another.

Keenan High School (KHS) opened in 1963 as a junior high school. It was named for W.J. Keenan, a member of the Columbia City School Board from 1934 to 1959. Keenan was the founder and owner of Keenan Energy Company and was one of the founders of the SC Petroleum Marketers Association in 1919. Keenan is credited with creating the "Iodine State" logo which was copyrighted in 1928 and used to promote South Carolina throughout the 1920s and 1930s.

In 1970, KHS became a high school and was Richland One's first fully integrated school. Since then KHS has made a name for itself among SC high schools, winning many academic and athletic awards including the Palmetto's Finest Award in 2005. Booker T. Washington High School (BTW) was opened in 1916 as Columbia's first new black high school. Dr. C.A. Johnson was the first principal. BTW was one of the first three high schools for black students in SC to award state high school diplomas, and in 1933 became fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

During the 1930s and 1940s, BTW earned state and regional championships in football. During the 1940s, the school was so popular an entrance exam had to be instituted. BTW became a six-year comprehensive high school in 1949 and had an enrollment of 1180 students.

BTW was integrated in 1970 and in 1971 graduated its first integrated class (161 whites, 21 blacks). There were 337 whites and 357 blacks in the school.

In 1972, BTW faced the sword of Department of Education requirements. Over a million dollars of renovations were needed which required 40 acres. Since the school had a campus of only 6.5 acres and was located in the middle of an expanding University of South Carolina, the school board voted to close the school and sell it to USC. Bricks from the building were used to pave the Horseshoe. A mural honoring USC Heisman Trophy winner George Rogers was painted on the remaining wall of BTW in 1989. In 1999, the entire BTW campus was razed for a residence hall.

Booker T. Washington, the man, was born a slave in 1856. He graduated from Hampton Agricultural Institute in 1875 and became a teacher. In 1888, Washington became the headmaster of Tuskegee Negro Normal Institute. He received financial support from Andrew Carnegie and Collis Huntington and political support from presidents William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and William H. Taft.

Washington took the conservation position on civil rights in speeches he made throughout the country and in his popular book, Up From Slavery , published in 1901. He promoted property rights over voting rights and non-union over union labor. As such, he was opposed by more radical activists. He died in Tuskegee in 1915 where over 8,000 people attended his funeral.

Washington the man and Washington the school were noteworthy institutions. The man represented accommodation with the status quo to achieve racial equality; the school represented quality education for blacks in Columbia.

The Richland One school board was insensitive to demolish such a fine institution. It was truly an insult to the black community of Columbia and the educational community of South Carolina. The Booker T. Washington High School Foundation is doing the right thing by keeping watch over the memory of the school, but to erase the name of another equally successful educational institution would also be insensitive and wrong.