South Dakota Changing Place Names; 18 Racial Places Renamed

Reuters reports that the state issued a plea this month for public assistance in renaming five geographic features. The five are part of a total of 18 sites that include the word "squaw" or "Negro" in their names and have been designated by the legislature as needing renaming.

But some of the replacement names suggested by the South Dakota Board of Geographic Names have been rejected by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.

"It is hard for us to come up with a good name," said June Hansen, a member of the South Dakota Board of Geographic Names.

The top places on the list for renaming are places known for decades as "Negro Wool Ridge" and "Negro Gulch," landmarks that in their early history were known by a different "n" word, said Hansen.

An effort to rename Negro Creek to Medicine Mountain Creek failed to garner approval of the federal body, for instance.

The federal board says that names should center on local history, folklore, events or natural aspects of the area, and says names cannot duplicate others attached to geographic features in South Dakota or nearby states.

The federal body does not consider the word "Negro" to be offensive, said Lou Yost, its executive secretary. Similarly squaw is not a problem for the federal board, though the three-letter shortened version of Japanese is, Yost said.

South Dakota is one of about a dozen U.S. states that in recent years have attempted to change location names that include the word Negro or other terms that today are considered insulting to certain ethnic groups or minorities. Minnesota, Oregon, Idaho, Florida, Maine, Montana and North Carolina all have taken up the issue.

The process of name-changing started in 2001. The state has so far successfully renamed 20 sites deemed to carry offensive names, many of them reflective of the large population of Sioux American Indians who live in South Dakota. Little Squaw Creek has become Badger Clark Creek, for instance.

The South Dakota board asked a Sioux tribe official to help rename many areas and is seeking public input now on those suggestions.