Burke, Virginia, is named after an enslaver. A journalist wants to change that

David Martosko discovered Silas Burke enslaved a six-year-old named Fenton and suggests name change to honor him instead

A former reporter has launched a campaign to rename his Virginia hometown, Burke, to stop the commemoration of an enslaver and instead honor a child he enslaved, a six-year-old boy named Fenton.

“My town is named after an unusually horrible person,” David Martosko said, “but it doesn’t have to be. Names say something about who we are and what we aspire to become.