Fort Bragg’s Change Our Name sponsors third annual student essay contest

by Lin Due March 5, 2025March 4, 2025

A firefighter mannequin holds a Fort Bragg Forever sign on the back of a fire truck during the Paul Bunyan Days Parade in Fort Bragg, Calif. on Monday, Sept. 4, 2024. Fort Bragg Forever is a grassroots organization dedicated to preserving the city's name. The city was named after Braxton Bragg, an American army officer who fought on behalf of the Confederacy during the American Civil War and owned over 100 enslaved people in the 1850s. (Frank Hartzell via Bay City News)

FORT BRAGG, CA., 3/5/25 — The Fort Bragg-based nonprofit Change Our Name, which advocates changing the name of Fort Bragg to disassociate the city from Confederate General Braxton Bragg, is sponsoring its third annual essay contest as well as its first-ever video contest. The contests are open to high school students living in Fort Bragg, including students at Fort Bragg and Noyo high schools.

Each contest offers a $2,000 first prize and a $1,000 second prize. Both contests ask essayists or video artists to respond to the prompt: “The Name of Fort Bragg Should be Changed” or “The Name of Fort Bragg Should Not be Changed.”