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The town of Burke, Virginia is named after Silas Burke, a 19th century plantation owner and politician. New research shows his direct involvement with slave auctions at the Fairfax County, Virginia courthouse — while he was a judge and a school commissioner.

It’s time to rename the town. Let’s replace Silas Burke’s name with the name of an African-American child he bought in 1826, a child who appears in court documents only as a “Negro boy [named] Fenton.”

This would be unprecedented. Historians advise that no American place named for a slaveholder has ever been renamed after a person he owned.

Documents published at www.FentonProject.org show Silas Burke was a serial enslaver of children who was directly involved with the pre-Civil-War slave economy. He counted 14 human beings among his property when he died in 1854, a number that put him at the 95th percentile among landowners in Fairfax County. The U.S. Census counted nine children among his slaves in 1850. He also managed a massive plantation for a family who enslaved more than 80 people there.

The Fenton Project aims only to rename the town of Burke. Silas’s name is also on 15 streets, five shopping centers, three public parks, a school, a lake, a train station, a public golf course, a volunteer fire department, at least five residential developments, a giant homeowners association and the Silas Burke House, which is preserved as a museum.

We’re so smothered in places named for Silas Burke that it would be impossible to “cancel” him. The idea is to place Fenton above the man who paid $206 for him. The juxtaposition of a town named “Fenton” containing more than 25 places named “Burke” will create questions and teachable moments for generations.

Burke, Virginia is 20 miles from Washington, D.C., and it’s home to about 45,000 people. Since it’s not incorporated under the laws of Virginia, it relies on Fairfax County for police and local government functions. In fact, Burke doesn’t legally exist. Its name is there largely to help the U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Census Bureau. This means only the federal government can rename it.

A 31-member “U.S. Board on Geographic Names” is empowered to decide. They will see a formal proposal in the weeks to come, renaming one Populated Place (Burke) and two Census Designated Places (Burke and Burke Centre). “Fenton” would replace “Burke,” and “Fenton Centre” would replace “Burke Centre.”

Please make your voice heard, especially if you live in northern Virginia or Washington, D.C.