NYC Audubon group changes name to reject namesake's pro-slavery views
June 6 (UPI) -- The New York City Audubon Society has officially changed its name to distance itself from the 19th century naturalist, slave owner and anti-abolitionist John James Audubon, the group announced Thursday.
"After a multi-year process to assess the Audubon name and then to choose a new one, on June 5, 2024, the organization's members voted to approve the new name, NYC Bird Alliance," the group said on its website. "The use of 'Audubon' in our name affects our ability to retain and attract staff, board members, supporters, volunteers and organization members."
"While we value John James Audubon's contributions to art and ornithology, and the foundation he laid for an appreciation of nature and a conservation ethos in this country, we recognize that his views and actions towards people of color and indigenous people were harmful and offensive -- and that the harm continues today, presenting a barrier to people who might otherwise become involved in or support our work," the group continued in its statement.
This is a change of course for the society, which said last year that it would keep the Audubon name, despite calls to change it. The National Audubon Society said it recognized Audubon's ties to slavery but decided in March 2023 to keep the name after a year-long deliberation.
Susan Bell, the chairwoman of the National Audubon Society's board of directors, said in a statement at the time that the group would focus on efforts to be more inclusive and that the society's work had come to represent the work of more than one person, and that it now takes a broader love of birds and nature and a non-partisan, more inclusive approach to conservation.
"This is an important time for birds and our shared planet, and this decision positions the organization to focus our equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging efforts and our conservation work where it is most urgently needed," she said at the time.
The nonprofit's board started considering a name change in 2022 and concluded that the "Audubon" name was a "barrier to its strategic goals, mission, and values."
Stakeholders considered at least 1,000 names before settling on NYC Bird Alliance. In addition to the name change, the group is undertaking other inclusion efforts, including leading guided bird outings in public housing communities in partnership with the Public Housing Community Fund.
The group also has published the city's first Spanish-English field guide to birds and expanded access to green space by installing green roofs on city buildings that provide habitats for birds as well as other environmental benefits.
John James Audubon was born in Haiti and lived from 1785 to 1851. He was a naturalist, artist and pioneering researcher in the world of the study of birds, known as ornithology.
But he also bought and sold enslaved people, and he wrote critically of emancipation, according to the National Audubon Society.
