The mysterious life and afterlife of Private Fitz Lee
Trump officials made a Black soldier a surrogate for Robert E. Lee.
From The Times
December 26, 2025

For more than a century, this Black soldier from Virginia was remembered by nearly no one. Then the Pentagon found a use for him — as a way to circumvent a law banning Confederate names on military assets.

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National Museum of African American History and Culture

Here’s who Private Fitz Lee was and how his name ended up on an Army base. →

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