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ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) – The city of Alexandria’s only public high school is getting a new name after the school board unanimously voted to remove the name of segregationist educator T.C. Williams.

The T.C. Williams Titans have national name recognition after the 2000 Denzel Washington film “Remember the Titans.” It told the story of the team’s state football championship in 1971, the year that previously segregated high schools in the city were merged into T.C. Williams.

Alexandria’s high school opened in 1965 and was named after Thomas Chambliss Williams, the Alexandria schools superintendent from the mid-1930s until 1963. He resisted desegregation and argued that Black and white students learned differently and should remain in separate schools

The school board voted unanimously Monday to remove the name after a public survey found 75% support for the change.

A new name has not been selected. Williams was a former superintendent of Alexandria public schools who fought desegregation.

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