Resources

A national reckoning with US history and racial injustice has been playing out on the terrain of monuments, museums, school curricula, and increasingly—maps. In a new report, “Words Are Monuments,” scientists analyzed 2,200 National Park place-names, asking how place-names perpetuate settler-colonial myths. While the federal government plans to rename 660 place-names with the derogatory term “sq**w,” the new study reveals the system-scale problem of place-names on public lands.

Place-names encode a way of seeing, understanding, and relating to the land. They inscribe our social values on official maps for the future generations. Renaming campaigns demonstrate how oppressive word-monuments–as symbols of extraction, erasure, and enclosure–can be replaced and reclaimed as life-affirming sites for cultural resurgence and #landback

Across the United States, thousands of features on public lands bear racist and offensive names. From tributes to Confederate leaders and slave owners, to ethnic and misogynistic slurs, these names perpetuate violence and oppression rooted in our nation’s history of colonization and prejudice.

Co-produced by The Wilderness Society and the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, this guide aims to make it easier for Tribal Nations, grassroots organizations, local leaders, and the general public to take action against racist and derogatory places names.

Explore current derogatory place names (red) and renamed places (gray), using this map put together by the Coalition for Outdoor Renaming & Education. This dataset represents a selection of offensive place names, is not exhaustive, and is subject to change as we learn more about these places.

Please note that this map includes racist and derogatory terms. Exercise caution and self-care as you use this resource.