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Currently Reading Negro is an offensive term, so why has it remained in the name of at least 26 Texas places?
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Commissioner Rodney Ellis, who sponsored a 1991 bill to remove the term Negro from location names in Texas, talks to the crowd after a bike ride in honor of George Floyd s birthday, on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020, in Third Ward, Houston. Floyd, a former Houston resident, was killed by a Minnesota Police officer earlier this year, leading to nationwide protests.Godofredo A. Vásquez, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer
Texas, it s time for a change.
Despite a law passed in the state in 1991 to remove the word Negro from the names of places such as creeks and valleys, at least 26 Texas locations still feature the word, according to Reese Oxner with Houston Public Media. The issue seems to rest in the fact that the power to change the names of such locations lies with the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, and the federal governm
Why Do So Many Places In Texas Have ‘Negro’ In Their Name, Despite A Law Against It?
Texas lawmakers voted to remove the word “Negro” from geographic features in 1991. But a federal board blocked the proposed name changes, and since then, almost none of them have been changed.
December 14, 2020, 7:36 AM
A map of Texas is displayed on a parking spot at the Old Glory Memorial in El Paso, Texas, last year.
Editor’s note: This is a story about the pervasive nature of racial insensitivity in America and how it persists to this day, and contains terms some might find offensive.
Editor s note:
This is a story about the pervasive nature of racial insensitivity in America and how it persists to this day, and contains terms some might find offensive.
In 1991, Texas passed a law to remove the word Negro from its place names. But today, over two dozen
geographic places in the state think creeks, valleys and other small features still have the word in their names.
That s because the federal government blocked the name changes.
In almost 30 years, only one of the places mentioned in the bill has been renamed, according to an NPR review. And the most vocal advocates of this law weren t aware the changes had never been made until NPR contacted them earlier this year.
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