Tims River

Last updated

Tims River, formerly Negro Run, is a 1.8 mile long tributary of the Robinson River within the Shenandoah National Park [1] in Virginia.

Contents

History of racist place names

Negro Run was one of "at least 1,441 federally recognized places across the nation include slurs in their official name". [2] At least 558 place names refer to African-Americans specifically in a derogatory manner. This creek was originally called Tim's River in 1753 and officially named Nigger Run in 1933. [3] It, and all other geographic features, replaced the word "Nigger" with "Negro" in 1962 by order of the Secretary of the Interior. [4]

Name change process

In November 2015, a local hiker sent a letter to the Deputy Director of the National Park Service expressing concern about the creek called Negro Run and suggesting that it be renamed "Oak Run" to reflect its proximity to White Oak Canyon. African-American families were living in the lower White Oak Canyon during the Jim Crow era, [5] which is most likely the basis of the official name change in 1933 to Nigger Run. From that letter, the Shenandoah National Park Superintendent began the process of officially changing the racist name of the creek. The Board of Geographic Names [6] reached out to other state and local historical societies to ask for comment on the proposal. The Madison County Historical Society preferred to see the creek named "Dyer Run" after the family that owned the property and lived in that area prior to the establishment of the park. By December 2016 the local African-American community had worked with the historical society to come to an agreement on the new name to be proposed to the Board of Geographic Names. [7]

The competing proposed names, "Freedom Run" by the National Park Service and "Dyer Run" by the Madison County Historical Society, were mutually withdrawn [8] and replaced by the proposal to rename Negro Run "Tims River" at the 789th meeting of the Board of Geographic Names Domestic Names Committee on December 8, 2016. The proposed name and case summary was included in Review List 426 [9] released December 30, 2016 and subsequently approved by the Board of Geographic Names on February 9, 2017.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shenandoah County, Virginia</span> County in Virginia, United States

Shenandoah County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 44,186. Its county seat is Woodstock. It is part of the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rockingham County, Virginia</span> County in Virginia, United States

Rockingham County is a county located in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 83,757. Its county seat is the independent city of Harrisonburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madison County, Virginia</span> County in Virginia, United States

Madison County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,837. Its county seat is Madison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middletown, Virginia</span> Town in Virginia, United States

Middletown is a town in Frederick County, Virginia, United States, in the northern Shenandoah Valley. The population was 1,265 at the 2010 census, up from 1,015 at the 2000 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodstock, Virginia</span> Town in Virginia, United States

Woodstock is a town and the county seat of Shenandoah County, Virginia, United States. It has a population of 5,212 according to the 2017 census. Woodstock comprises 3.2 square miles of incorporated area of the town, and is located along the "Seven Bends" of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River. While some tourism references list Woodstock as the fourth oldest town in Virginia, the area was sparsely settled and perhaps platted in 1752 or shortly thereafter, but the town was actually established by charter in 1761. While there are a number of Virginia towns closer to the eastern seaboard that claim earlier founding dates, Woodstock was one of the first towns west of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grottoes, Virginia</span> Town in Virginia, United States

Grottoes is an incorporated town in Rockingham County with a small portion in Augusta County in the state in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 2,899 at the 2020 census. The town lies right on the border with Augusta County, and several commercial, residential, and recreational lots have portions within Augusta County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delaware Water Gap</span> Geological feature along the Delaware River

Delaware Water Gap is a water gap on the border of the U.S. states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania where the Delaware River cuts through a large ridge of the Appalachian Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geographic Names Information System</span> Geographical database

The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and location information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories; the associated states of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau; and Antarctica. It is a type of gazetteer. It was developed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) to promote the standardization of feature names.

The English word squaw is an ethnic and sexual slur, historically used for Indigenous North American women. Contemporary use of the term, especially by non-Natives, is considered derogatory, misogynist, and racist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Register of Historic Places listings in Virginia</span>

Buildings, sites, districts, and objects in Virginia listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robinson River (Virginia)</span> Tributary of the Rapidan River in Virginia

The Robinson River is a 34.2-mile-long (55.0 km) tributary of the Rapidan River in Madison County, Virginia, in the United States. It flows southeast through White Oak Canyon and Berry Hollow, under Routes 231, 29 and 15. From its start in Shenandoah National Park as Cedar Run and Tims River, it has confluences with the Rose River, Quaker Run, Shotwell Run, Leathers Run, Mulatto Run, White Oak Run, Deep Run, Dark Run, Beaverdam Run and Great Run before its confluence with the Rapidan River. A 19-mile (31 km) section of the Robinson River from Syria to Locust Dale is Class II whitewater, with an average gradient of 15 feet per mile (2.8 m/km). In the Syria area, both the Rose River and Robinson River are stocked with Rainbow trout and Brook trout by the state of Virginia.

Old Rag was an unincorporated community located in Madison County, Virginia, on Old Rag Mountain. Originally known as Weakley Valley, Old Rag was inhabited by white people in the 1770s. By 1900, Old Rag had a post office, a school, two churches and two stores, and a cemetery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shenandoah National Park</span> 195,000 acres in Virginia (US) maintained by the National Park Service

Shenandoah National Park is a national park in the Eastern United States that encompasses part of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The park is long and narrow, with the Shenandoah River and its broad valley to the west, and the rolling hills of the Virginia Piedmont to the east. Skyline Drive is the main park road, generally traversing along the ridgeline of the mountains. Almost 40% of the park's land—79,579 acres —has been designated as wilderness areas and is protected as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. The highest peak is Hawksbill Mountain at 4,051 feet (1,235 m).

Smith Creek is a 35.5-mile-long (57.1 km) tributary stream of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Its watershed comprises 106 square miles (270 km2) within Shenandoah and Rockingham counties on the western slope of the Massanutten Mountain ridge. Its headwaters lie in Rockingham County just north of Harrisonburg, and its confluence with the North Fork of the Shenandoah River is located just south of Mount Jackson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishers Gap</span>

Fishers Gap is a wind gap of the Blue Ridge Mountains located on the border of Madison County and Page County in Virginia in the Shenandoah National Park. Both Skyline Drive and the Appalachian Trail pass across the gap.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashby Creek</span> River in the United States

Ashby Creek is a tributary of Doctors Creek in Upper Freehold Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, in the United States. It runs for 4.2 miles (6.8 km) from the area near Wrightsville and empties into Doctors Creek southeast of Allentown.

Buffalo Soldier Draw is a valley in Garza and Lynn counties, Texas, in the United States. When wet, the valley contains a stream which runs 3 miles (4.8 km) until it reaches the Double Mountain Fork Brazos River.

Coon Lake, a 15 acres (0.061 km2) lake, and its associated 3 miles (4.8 km) stream, Coon Creek, are located in the Stehekin River Valley in Washington State’s Cascade Mountain Range. They are both within the Lake Chelan National Recreation Area, a part of both the North Cascades National Park Complex and the Stephen Mather Wilderness. Howard Lake is located at Latitude +48.3886007 and Longitude -120.8334497.

Use of <i>nigger</i> in proper names

The word nigger has historically been used in the names of products, colors, plants, as place names, and as people's nicknames, among others, but has fallen out of favor since the 20th century.

References

  1. ↑ "Shenandoah National Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  2. ↑ "Racial slurs are woven deep into the American landscape". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  3. ↑ "Geographic Board Approved Name Card for Nigger Run". 1933.
  4. ↑ Palmer, Brian (2011-10-03). "Gringo Gulch, Dago Spring, and Polack Swamp". Slate. ISSN   1091-2339 . Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  5. ↑ "History of Segregation in Shenandoah National Park". www.nps.gov.
  6. ↑ "U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN)". geonames.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  7. ↑ Eagle, GRACIE HART BROOKS Madison County. "Movement afoot to rename Negro Run in Madison". The Daily Progress. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  8. ↑ "Board of Geographic Names Domestic Names Committee Meeting Minutes". December 8, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Board of Geographic Names Review List 426". December 30, 2016.

38°09′06″N78°05′34″W / 38.1518°N 78.0928°W / 38.1518; -78.0928


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.