It is time to rename Fort Douglas.
The military base was constructed behind what is now the University of Utah in 1862 and is named after Sen. Stephen A. Douglas, the Democratic nominee for president in 1860.
Douglas positioned himself as a pro-slavery senator from the northern state of Illinois. He wrote the Nebraska-Kansas Act, which opened the possibility for slavery in the North and, during the famous Lincoln-Douglas, debates he condemned the future president as overly sympathetic to black people.
We write history in books, but we memorialize legacies with buildings and statues. Our books provide us with reminders of the past, both the good and the ugly, but our memorials reflect our current values. It is time to rename the space behind the University of Utah that bears the name of a man who believed that certain people were born better than others.
Brian D. King, Tahlequah, Okla.
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