Giving Compass' Take:
- Some national parks in the U.S. are named after leaders who participated in violence or theft of Indigenous land.
- Renaming these sites can be a way of reckoning with the problematic history and honoring Indigenous communities. How can donors help amplify Indigenous rights and narratives?
- Read more on how philanthropy can support and protect Indigenous communities.
What is Giving Compass?
We connect donors to learning resources and ways to support community-led solutions. Learn more about us.
Addressing place names in national parks could be a starting point for reckoning with the country’s history of dispossessing Indigenous nations from their lands.
The new paper in the journal People and Nature reveals that derogatory names are only the tip of the iceberg—violence in place names can take many forms. The study quantifies the scale of the problem in US national parks and puts the movement to change place names in context.
Around the world, statues of historic figures who symbolize colonialism and oppression are being critically examined, and often removed. Across the United States, Confederate figures and statues with clear racist symbolism have been uninstalled or actively torn down. These removals reflect a shifting zeitgeist that seeks to include the history of Indigenous and racialized peoples. But some symbols of oppression are less tangible than a statue.
US Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland recently initiated a task force to address derogatory place names on federal lands, including names using a derogatory term for an American Indian woman. But is everyone on board? Why are place names important?
“As highly visible cultural symbols, place names help us collectively navigate and give meaning to our world,” says coauthor Grace Wu, an assistant professor in the University of California, Santa Barbara’s environmental studies program. “When those names are violent, derogatory, racist, or colonialist, they perpetuate the harms of those violent acts and ideas.”
National parks have been called the country’s “best idea,” but many may not realize how park names can help cover up their violent histories. The authors reviewed more than 2,000 place names in 16 national parks, including Acadia, Yosemite, and the Great Smoky Mountains. Their analysis revealed a striking trend of names that commemorate violence and colonialism while erasing Indigenous cultures.
The researchers identified 52 places named for settlers who committed acts of violence, often against Indigenous peoples. For instance, Mt. Doane, in Yellowstone, and Harney River, in the Everglades, commemorate individuals who led massacres against the areas’ Indigenous peoples, often including women and children.
Read the full article about Indigenous land by Harrison Tasoff at Futurity.