U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria commander Col. Kevin A. Poole and two of the youngest audience members at the street dedication ceremony, June 14, 2023, reveal the new street sign at Tower Barracks, Grafenwoehr, Germany. Freedom Road commemorates the end of slavery in America. (Natalie Simmel)
Freedom Road is the new moniker for a street at the Army’s main garrison in Bavaria, which previously was named after the Confederacy’s most renowned general.
The change from Lee Street to Freedom Road at the Grafenwoehr Training Area marks the latest move by the military to remove all dedications to the Confederacy and its installations at home and overseas.
“We are not erasing history,” U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria commander Col. Kevin A. Poole said during a renaming ceremony last week, according to a statement. “I see it as reframing history and looking at it through a different lens.”
Poole said troops can study the history of Gen. Robert E. Lee and glean lessons from his soldiering skills and “examples of leadership.”
“But I think it probably ends there,” Poole said. “There is a difference between revering [Confederate generals] and memorializing them.”
The renaming ceremony, held June 14, also served as a celebration of the Juneteenth holiday, which commemorates the end of slavery.
In recent months, the military has renamed some of its most prominent bases.
The former Fort Hood in Texas is now Fort Cavazos, named after Gen. Richard Cavazos, who earned combat awards and led troops during the Korean War and in Vietnam. Fort Bragg, N.C., became Fort Liberty, and the former Fort Benning, Ga., is Fort Moore, named after Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and his wife, Julia.
The list goes on and includes the renaming of smaller sites, such as the former Lee Street at Grafenwoehr’s Tower Barracks. Another three streets within the garrison will be renamed.
The name Freedom Road commemorates the freeing of slaves in 1865, the Army garrison statement said. Although President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation two years earlier, it wasn’t until after the Confederacy’s defeat that freedom came for all.
“This dedication ceremony represents a step forward in acknowledging our complex past while celebrating our future and our inclusivity in fostering a unified community,” Poole said.
