U.S. Board on Geographic Names votes to remove 'Negro' from 16 site names

The U.S. Board on Geographic Names approved that particular sites including the word "Negro" could be renamed. 

The decision was granted after the Texas legislature passed a bipartisan resolution saying that the 16 sites should not have racially offensive names and should be replaced with other names, Unilad reported.

"Thank you @RepAlGreen, State Sen. @BorrisLMiles and State Rep. @ronereynolds for your bold leadership to ensure we change these names," Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis wrote in a tweet.

In 1991, the federal board denied a similar request to rename the sites after black people who made notable contributions to the state, AXIOS reported.

"This day has been a long time coming, but I am proud to see this change finally happen," Ellis said, who had originally proposed legislation for the name change in 1991. 

Ellis further said he hopes they will take this decision in Texas, and move forward with it in other states.

"I hope that the [U.S. Board on Geographic Names] will build on the progress made today in Texas, and work with other groups across the country to ensure that all racially offensive names are erased from the public domain," Ellis said, as reported by AXION. 

Ellis said that even though it is a win for Texas, there are so many sites across the nation that still need to be renamed as to not be racially offensive. 

Some of the sites that will be renamed include "Negro Branch" to "Ada Simond Creek," in honor of the black writer and activist, and a hill summit previously called "Negro Head."