Removal of word 'Negro' at sites sought

Three decades after originally recommending it, the Texas Legislature is again asking the federal government to make a change: remove the term "Negro" from places named "Negro Bend", "Negro Hollow", "Negrohead Bluff" and from dozens of other geographical locations across the state.

The natural features — such as lakes, summits and valleys — with the term are scattered across the state, and even in the Texas county where the sponsor of the 1991 bill who sought to ban the word lives: Negrohead Lake.

On Monday, the Texas House on Monday voted 146-0 to ask the US Board for Geographic Names to remove the term. The state Senate had unanimously passed the resolution. It now goes to Governor Greg Abbott for his signature.

If signed by Abbott, the resolution will be forwarded to the geographic names board. It doesn't have legal force, but rather will urge the board to approve requests in accordance with the 1991 bill.

The law passed in 1991 by the Legislature was supposed to rename the places after black Americans who made a significant contribution to Texas. That was blocked by the board — which has the final say over any natural place name in the country — saying there was a lack of demonstrated local support for the proposed new names or opposition to current ones.

There are at least 25 place names in the state that contain the term Negro, according to the geographic board's database, not counting names that appear to be referencing the Spanish word for the color black.

The 1991 bill identified 19 Texas sites containing the word but called for all instances to be removed. Only one of the 19 places mentioned in the bill was eventually changed to the proposed name: Negro Pond became Emancipation Pond.

Many of the locations in Texas with the racial slur once used the pejorative N-word but were changed to Negro in 1963 by the federal board. The board also substituted Japanese for the racial slur "Jap" in 1974.

Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis — a former Texas lawmaker who sponsored the bill in 1991 — said he wasn't aware the name changes hadn't been made until he was contacted by National Public Radio for a story last year.

He wrote letters and reached out to state agencies to act. His efforts prompted lawmakers to draft the resolution urging the board to "to approve requests to change racially offensive names of geographic features''.

"I'm very pleased," with the resolution, said Ellis. "After the George Floyd killing, people are looking at and finding opportunities to go and right past wrongs."

Ellis suggested to the board that it take all instances where Negro appears in a name to replace it "with 'black' or another term that is not racially offensive", while a new name can be selected by the local community.

As part of the renewed effort to rename the places, 16 proposals for places in the 1991 bill have been resubmitted to the federal board and are set to be voted on at its June 10 meeting.

Outside of Texas, there are at least 600 geographic features with Negro in the names, according to a search by NPR on the US Geological Survey's website. The board changed all mentions of the N-word in geographic place names to Negro in 1963. There are also at least 800 places with the term "Squaw'', and dozens with Asian pejoratives, NPR said.

"It's past time to change many of these offensive names," US Representative Debra Haaland told NPR.

The Democrat from New Mexico introduced a bill called the Reconciliation in Place Names Act in the House at the end of September to address racially offensive names. The bill calls to "review and revise offensive names of Federal land units" and for an advisory board to be established.