NC birding group faces dilemma: Keep its longtime name or cut ties with racist namesake
The New Hope Audubon Society is asking members to approve a name change that will distance the birding group from its namesake naturalist, a slaveholder who opposed emancipation.
On May 2, the group will ask members to endorse a new name, The New Hope Bird Alliance, to better promote its wildlife goals while shedding any ties to John James Audubon.
“We believe that our organization should have a name that better focuses on our stated mission of promoting the conservation of birds, other wildlife, and their ecosystems,” the group said on its webpage. “At the same time, we wish to remove the Audubon part of our name that many people find offensive.”
National society is keeping name
The National Audubon Society announced last year that it would keep its century-old name despite its complicated legacy.
“The name has come to represent so much more than the work of one person,” said Susan Bell, chair of the national society board of directors in a 2023 statement, “but a broader love of birds and nature, and a nonpartisan approach to conservation. We must reckon with the racist legacy of John James Audubon.”
Meanwhile, Audubon’s anti-abolitionist stance and outspoken white supremacy caused the Portland Audubon Society to switch its name to the Bird Alliance of Oregon. Groups in Detroit and Chicago have made similar decisions.
Audubon inspired bird-watching and conservation groups nationwide with the 435 species depicted in his famous work “The Birds of America,” printed between 1827 and 1838.
‘Despicable things’
But the society that bears his name concedes that he did “despicable things” even for his time, in which he both owned slaves and advocated against abolition.
“He stole human remains and sent the skulls to a colleague who used them to assert that whites were superior to non-whites,” according the the Audubon page.
The New Hope Audubon Society has members throughout Durham, Orange and Chatham counties. The name change will come to a vote at the annual membership meeting at 7 p.m. on May 2, either in-person or via Zoom.
