Black leaders, Houston NAACP demands renaming of 'Negrohead Lake' in Baytown
HOUSTON - On Monday, Feb. 8, Congressman Al Green and several other black community leaders called for the renaming of Negrohead Lake in Baytown.
"These names continue to perpetuate the embarrassing legacy of discrimination, encouraging younger generations of Americans to adopt toxic values of racism and superiority," James Dixon, NAACP Houston branch President said Monday.
"Think of how this name continues to demean our children, Dixon said.
The racially insensitive lake went by an even more egregious name during the Jim Crow era. Negrohead Lake went by "N-word Lake" prior to the decision to change the name in 1962.
"Anyone who contends that the intention was this be called Black because in Spanish ‘negro’ is black and it’s Spanish that they were using. They are mistaken because it was the N-word and they changed it from the N-word to Negro. Both are offensive," said Congressman Al Green who joined a group of local lawmakers proposing changing the name
The Houston NAACP is calling for the body of water to be renamed "Lake Henry Doyle".
Doyle was the first black applicant for a law school set up for black people at the University of Texas at Austin.
He graduated from what was known as Sam Houston College with a Bachelor's degree and studied at Columbia to further his education.
Below is a clipping from the Mexia News newspaper from March 7, 1947.
Henry Doyle article Source: The Mexia Daily News March 7, 1947.
This isn't the first time the community leaders thought about removing the name.
In 1991, then Texas Senator Rodney Ellis co-sponsored House Bill 1756 which was to result in the removal of racially offensive names from publicly owned parks, lakes, creeks, etc.
The plan was to change the name of racially-insensitive places to black citizens who made significant contributions to the state.
In 1999, the proposal was rejected by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names because the board did not observe any evidence that there was any local involvement in the renaming process.
IT'S NOT THE ONLY ONE
Here is a list of several other places with racially-insensitive namesakes throughout southern states:
- Dead Negro Draw split between Garza and Lynn counties in Texas (Originally called Dead N-word Creek)
- Negro Creek in Stephens County, Texas
- Negro Hollow in Kinney County, Texas
- Negrohead Bluff in Bosque County, Texas
- Mulatto Bayou in Mississippi
- Dead Negro Hollow in Tennessee