After Years of Advocacy, Oregon Is Renaming Two Creeks to Remove Racist Names

Several proposals by the Oregon Geographic Names Board, the U.S. Forest Service, and Oregon Black Pioneers, and multiple years later, two geographic places in Oregon with a history of racially insensitive names have been renamed.

On Wednesday, Sept. 18, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names approved proposals to change the name of Negro Jack Creek in Tillamook County to Jack Creek, and the name of Negro Creek in Douglas County to Triple Nickles Creek.

“One of the most gratifying parts of our work at Oregon Black Pioneers is to participate in renaming projects. Removing antiquated racial terms allows us to right past wrongs, and honor historic Black men and women in the process,” OBP Executive Director Zachary Stocks said in a press release. {snip}

In 1964, the United States Board on Geographic Names replaced the slur with the then more acceptable “Negro” in placenames nationwide.

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Oregon has only a few remaining geographic places which use the word “Negro,” however many places which use racist language to describe Chinese, Jewish, and Native Americans remain, according to Oregon Black Pioneers.