From the Associated Press: "Pickaninny Buttes is one of thousands of places across the United States still saddled with names that are an insight into the country's divisive past, when demeaning names given to areas settled by ethnic or racial minorities were recorded on official government maps and often stuck. Some, like Wop Draw in Wyoming; Jewtown, Georgia; Beaner Lake, Washington state; Wetback Tank reservoir in New Mexico and Polack Lake in Michigan, can sound rudely impolitic to the ears of a more inclusive society."
The article continues: "Others, such as the former Olympic ski resort of Squaw Valley near Lake Tahoe have become so ingrained in the vernacular that they're spoken without a second thought. And yet, nine states are on a mission to scrub 'squaw' from their maps, a slang word first given to Native American women that came to mean both a part of the female genitalia and a woman of ill repute. California is not among those states, to the continuing frustration of many regional Indian tribes."
More about these offensive place names: "From Alaska to Florida and Maine to California there are 757 places with Negro in the name, according to an analysis of government records. Many of those place names were not spelled that way originally. There are also 20 places with 'Dago' (and many more that have been changed to 'Italian'), 1,100 Squaws, six 'Polacks,' 10 Cripples, 58 named Gypsy, 30 'Chinamans,' eight 'Injuns,' 1 'Hebe Canyon,' 35 'Spooks,' 14 'Sambos' -- including Black Sambo Mine in California -- 30 'Spades,' and too many 'Coons' to count. There are also at least seven 'Darkeys,' another offensive name for black people."
From 'Negro Creek' To 'Wop Draw', Place Names Offend
