Alumni offended by Robert Smalls school logo

Robert Smalls School alumni are working to change a school logo they say doesn't accurately depict Smalls and keep it from becoming the school's mascot.

Linda Robinson, president of the Robert Smalls Association, said the current Robert Smalls International Academy logo used on the school's website and on a mat just inside the school entrance doesn't accurately reflect the school's namesake.

The association objects to the logo's two-toned face, ponytail and colonial-era garb members say predates Smalls, an escaped slave, Civil War hero and five-term congressman born and buried in Beaufort.

"It is a slap in the face to anyone who has attended Robert Smalls, and it is an insult to all of us in the Beaufort community," said Charlotte Brown, who attended Robert Smalls School from elementary school in 1955 until high school graduation in 1967. "He has earned respect, not just locally, but nationally. To have someone decide to change it is not right."

Beaufort County schools superintendent Jeffrey Moss said the Academy doesn't have an athletics mascot and that he and school officials would meet with the association to decide potential choices. The choices would then be presented to the school board for approval, he said.

The offending logo was one of the potential mascots considered by the school and is a stock image that comes up early in a Google search, Moss said. He said he thinks the picture was chosen by the middle school students, and a bulldog was chosen by the elementary school-age students.

Robert Smalls Middle School was renamed the Robert Smalls International Academy last year as the school transitioned to a pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade configuration. The school's logo had been a "G" for general.

Moss said the first step in choosing a mascot is what it will look like and that association members want the mascot to look like Smalls.

"And I told them we don't do that; mascots typically don't look like real people," said Moss, who guessed the new mascot would be in place in time for football season. "If you look at any college mascot, pro mascot -- most of them are animals or caricatures of things."

Robinson and members of the association met with Academy principal Nicole Holloman in February.

In April, more than 100 people attended a meeting with Holloman and Moss in the Robert Smalls auditorium to discuss issues with the logo.

Robinson said Holloman also mentioned plans to write a new alma mater. Moss said he wasn't aware of planned changes to the alma mater and that there had been no talk of it.

Attempts to reach Holloman on Thursday were unsuccessful.

Another meeting with association executives, Moss and Holloman, scheduled for Thursday at the district office, was postponed because Moss was out of town. Robinson said Moss suggested someone take his place, but association executives wanted to reschedule with him.

"It's not over, and it's going to take some time," Robinson said Thursday. "We're hoping they can expedite it so we all can be on one accord."

Robert Smalls School was built in 1925, 10 years after Smalls' death, and served only black students until 1970.

Follow reporter Stephen Fastenau at twitter.com/IPBG_Stephen.

This story was originally published May 14, 2015 at 9:47 PM with the headline "Alumni offended by Robert Smalls school logo."