4 times renaming geographic locations took racism off the map

Racism isn’t just a matter of skin color. It’s a product of our everyday environment—written in history books, the languages we speak, and according to a recent analysis, names of geographic locations.

Last month, Vocativ released data that revealed at least 1,441 "federally recognized places" in the United States have names that contain slurs. The news site said it cross-referenced terms in the Racial Slur Database with 2.2 million location names in the U.S. Geological Survey’s Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).

Most places with derogatory names are located in the country's Western and Southern regions, with the largest cluster in Arizona. But like racism itself, these names are scattered all across the U.S.

Recently, the Confederate flag—a symbol of hatred and oppression for many—has been removed from college campuses, online games, and government buildings. But the fight against injustice doesn’t end there. Rectifying the legacy of racial oppression also means addressing other pervasive ways it is carved into our reality—including geographic locations.

With that in mind, NTRSCTN has compiled a list of four places whose racist names were replaced:

Howard Lake and Howard Creek, located in Chelan County, Washington, were known in the state as Coon Lake and Coon Creek until 2007, according to local media. The name changes happened after Seattle resident Jonathan Rosenblum conducted research and discovered that they likely referred to Wilson Howard, an African-American prospector who lived in the area during the 1890s, The Seattle Globalist reported. "Coon" is a derogatory term for black people.

In 2007, Washington's state naming board accepted Rosenblum's proposal to honor Howard by renaming the lake and creek. Until recently, however, the federal government had resisted following suit. It was only on Thursday—eight years later—that the U.S. Board of Geographic Names officially approved the name changes to Howard Lake and Howard Creek.

“We rechecked the mining records for the area and took immediate action to rectify the situation," Karen Taylor-Goodrich, superintendent of North Cascades National Park, said. We will now begin the process of updating the maps and signs for the park."

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski introduced a bill in January to change the name of the state’s 20,300-foot peak, Mount McKinley. Instead of honoring former U.S. President William McKinley, Murkowsi suggested that the mountain take on the name given to it by Alaska's indigenous Athabascan people: Denali, or "the high one."

But Ohio lawmakers opposed the proposal because they wanted to continue honoring America's 25th president, who was born in Ohio, and was once the state’s governor, according to NBC News. ​Ultimately, though, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell officially announced the name change in August.

In 2010, eighth-graders at Randy Smith Middle School in Fairbanks, Alaska, turned a startling geography lesson into an opportunity to effect change.

The students noticed racist place names, including “Negrohead Creek” and “Negrohead Mountain,” on the U.S. Geological Survey map during a class exercise, according to local publication Juneau Empire. They then united forces with teachers Tonya Brown and Jayne Naze, who submitted forms to request that the creek and lake be called their original Athabascan names, “Lochenyatth Creek” and “Tl’oo Khanishyah Mountain,” respectively. (Until the 1960s, they included even more extreme racial epithets: N*ggerhead Creek and N*ggerhead Mountain.")

The U.S. Board on Geographic Names officially enacted the changes in 2012.

Local newspaper Star Tribune reported that "an overnight caper" temporarily replaced the signs outside Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis, Minnesota—named after former U.S. Vice-President John C. Calhoun who championed slavery—with its indigenous Dakota name, “Mde Maka Ska," or "White Earth Lake," in September.

The lake was not renamed, but in response, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board enacted a dual-name solution. Now, it also includes signs that showcase the Dakota name (using the preferred modern spelling of “Bde Maka Ska").