Slideshow: N-word national locales leave a mark
6:00 AM on 10/05/2011
Negro Bill Canyon in Moab, Utah (File Photo)
The so-called 'n-word' is always surrounded by controversy. It's been in the news lately thanks to a hunting camp once owned by GOP candidate Rick Perry's family called 'Ni**erhead'. Since that story broke the debate over whether the word is inherently offensive and whether or not Perry's family should have condemned the name sooner has raged between political pundits, candidates and even the women of The View
N-word 101: College class studies story behind the slur
The rules of who can use the term known in variation as ni**er, ni**a, negro and the socially accepted euphemism of the n-word, still bear some uncertainty. Over the course of history, many geographical sites possessed names with the bitterly contentious word.
Although in 1967, the United States Board on Geographic Names changed the names of 143 places throughout the country from ni**er to negro, many states have decided to change the names of their historical sites all together. The slideshow below highlights some national locales that may get name recognition for the wrong reasons.
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LOS ANGELES, CA - Until the 1960's, the 2,031-foot mountain was known as the derogatory form of Negrohead. In 2009, the name was changed to Ballard Mountain in honor of the early black pioneer, John Ballard.
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In Maryland it is believed that Negro Mountain received it's name from a black frontiersman who was considered a hero in the French and Indian war. In February of this year a Maryland bill proposed a name change but was unsuccessful.
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Prior to the relocation in 1954 of 13 cemeteries to the Mormon Island Relocation Cemetery during the construction of Folsom Dam, Negro Hill Cemetery (formerly known as Ni**er Hill) in El Dorado, CA was home to 36 unknown settlers buried in the 1800s.
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LE FLORE COUNTY, OKLAHOMA - "Old Negro Creek Bridge' is a 60-foot long pony truss in route to another bridge. The rickety old bridge has since been replaced with concrete.
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Negro Bill Canyon (formerly called Ni**er Bill Canyon) in Moab, Utah is a 243-foot long Navajo Sandstone gorge. Named after William Granstaff, a black prospector and rancher who grazed cattle there in the 1800s, it is now a major hiking trail. It is also the sixth-longest natural rock span in the United States.
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Ni**er Nate Grade Road, in North San Diego County, CA, was named after Nate Harrison, an ex-slave and settler. At the request of the NAACP in 1955, it was renamed Nathan Harrison Grade Road.
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Named Ni**ertoe Mountain in 1955 after a Christmas tale (1908) of three black men who died in a blizzard at the foot of the mountain, was renamed in 1966 to Mount Nkwala.
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The protruding image of what looks like a face went from the name Ni**er Head Rock to Great Stone Face in the 1970s. This rock located north of Pennington Gap, Virginia, also had a night club named after it.
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Nigtown, Texas is a small farming community. The name, suggested by former slave and civic leader Jeff Carter, is and abbreviation for Ni**er Town and was given during the 1800s when former slave families were settling in the area.
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Negro Prairie is an historical site in the United Stated located in Flathead, Montana. It was originally known as Ni**er Prairie.
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