Dallas ISD is researching the histories of Ben Franklin, Sam Houston, Thomas Jefferson and 17 other historical figures, looking into whether their connections with slavery or the Confederacy should prompt reconsideration of their names on DISD campuses.

Last Thursday, DISD administration recommended changing the names of four schools honoring Confederate generals: Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Albert Sidney Johnston and William L. Cabell elementary schools. During that discussion, it was mentioned that there is a much broader list of at least 21 names that bear further investigation, if trustees were compelled to do so.

"This was just a very quick review of looking at the biographies of the individuals," DISD chief of school leadership Stephanie Elizalde told trustees on Sept. 14. "And if there was any association with Confederacy — not making a judgment for or against — just if we saw Confederacy named in it, we then highlighted it. We are now in the process of doing a second [look]."

The Dallas Morning News has obtained a copy of that list, which includes Texas revolutionaries and founders such as Sam Houston, James Bowie and William Travis, U.S. presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, and Dallas pioneers James Gaston and William Brown Miller.

Elizalde acknowledged to trustees the difficulty in drawing a line on where to proceed. Some of the schools' namesakes were involved with the Confederacy, but in lesser army ranks or non-combat roles. As examples, Elizalde mentioned John H. Reagan, the Confederacy's postmaster, and Nancy Cochran, who according to Elizalde's research, "encouraged her sons" to fight for the Confederacy.

"If we're going to go there, we'll need direction of which are we actually going to talk about changing, and how far down that association," Elizalde said to trustees.

"We definitely think three — absolutely, for sure — at a minimum could be considered," she added later, referencing Stonewall Jackson, Lee and Johnston. "And we're leaving the rest at this point. We could do some more research and give you some more specifics on other schools if you'd like."

A few trustees — Lew Blackburn, Joyce Foreman and Dustin Marshall — indicated that they'd be interested in further investigation.

Blackburn said that if DISD didn't address slave owners such as Miller, "we are in some ways being hypocritical."

Foreman said that she wanted to "start with the four," concerned that if more names were included, "we could open it up so wide that we could never get anything done."

"I think, for young children of all races, there should be a removal of any of those types of names, because once you start to research the history, then you begin to understand why it was separate and unequal," Foreman said.

Marshall wanted to look at the list, which wasn't available during the board briefing. He said that he wanted more of the historical context of why the names were selected.

"Because, for me, the bright line distinction that we're looking for here — and I absolutely want to avoid a slippery-slope situation — is not whether they were a general or a brigadier general, but whether the school was named in order to honor that individual specifically for their role in the Confederacy," Marshall told Elizalde.

On Saturday night, Marshall posted the list to Facebook. Apart from Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee elementary schools, the only other school from Marshall's trustee district on the expanded list was Benjamin Franklin Middle School, a name that he wouldn't support changing.

"I will not support a name change for Franklin since Benjamin Franklin clearly had many accomplishments that form the basis for why the school was named after him," Marshall wrote. "I don't believe this school was named after Franklin to send a signal of oppression and control."

None of the schools named after those with segregationist leanings made the list.

Foreman said that several of her constituents had asked for William H. Atwell Law Academy to be included, since Atwell used his position as a federal district court judge in the late 1950's to stymie desegregation in Dallas schools.

During the board briefing, Dallas City Council member Philip Kingston encouraged the reconsideration of W.T. White High School. That school was named after a long-time Dallas ISD superintendent who did not integrate the district after the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1954 ruling Brown vs. Board of Education until forced by court order. Kingston said that White was honored with the naming while still in his role as the superintendent "because of his successful delay of desegregation."

Here's the list, from DISD: