“I’m going to stand for what I think is right,” he said. “I was going to do what I planned. They can’t approve it and then say you gotta change it after I worked so long on it. It’s not fair to me, or anybody.”

Norman’s parents finally got involved, and told the school that Robert E. Lee was their third cousin. Norman’s project, therefore, was about heritage, not racism.

David Norman, his father, said: “We were on the second ship from England that came to America, so my bloodline goes way back when America first started. I’m not a racist, the furthest thing from it. My son’s not a racist.”

Norman was finally allowed to display his artwork.

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