Opinion | Rename theMilitary Bases That Honor Confederates

Similarly, six of the seven African-Americans who deserved Medals of Honor for valor in Italy during World War II were dead by the time President Bill Clinton awarded their medals more than a half-century later. The only living recipient was 77-year-old Vernon Joseph Baker, who, as a young second lieutenant in Northern Italy, destroyed multiple enemy machine gun posts, killed several German soldiers and drew enemy fire, allowing his comrades to evacuate.

Looking back, Lieutenant Baker recalled with bitterness how hurt he had been that white officers presumed that Black soldiers were cowards — but also how that hurt had made him all the more determined to carry out his mission on the day of the battle in 1944, near the Tuscan town of Viareggio. “And what made me really angry,’’ he said, “was the fact that nobody gave us any word of encouragement or any words of thanks.”

Toward a Post-Racist Army

The struggle against discrimination in the American military persists to this day, as The Times’s correspondent Helene Cooper showed in a recent article about the persistent whiteness and maleness of military upper leadership. When this history is finally written, one of the standout figures will surely be Clifford Alexander Jr., who was appointed secretary of the Army in 1977, after serving in the trenches of the fight for civil rights.

As an aide to President Lyndon Johnson, he helped pass both the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and later served as chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Mr. Alexander worked to better integrate minorities and women into the Army, and it was during his time as Army secretary that Dr. Walker’s Civil War-era Medal of Honor was restored.

He later explained in a Times Op-Ed that he had delayed a list of proposed generals because African-American colonels who had served with distinction had not been included. He then instructed those who weighed such matters to examine early performance records and eliminate unfair blemishes that had been influenced by the prejudices of ratings or superior officers. When equity and fairness were restored, Mr. Alexander recalled, Black colonels with sterling records emerged and were promoted.

A year after Mr. Alexander’s arrival, a young African-American colonel named Colin Powell was promoted to brigadier general. He went on to become a celebrated four-star general, the youngest officer ever appointed chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and, later, secretary of state. Four decades after Mr. Alexander showed the way, though, the Army is still struggling to curb racial bias in its promotion system.

The Confederate base names are a legacy of a shameful compromise with white supremacy that is thoroughly documented in the historical record. Replacing the names of traitors who waged war on the nation in an attempt to keep African-Americans in chains will not make racism magically disappear. But it is clearly an important step in the right direction.