U.S. renamed over 650 geographical locations with slur for Native American women

Screenshot view from Google Earth of Manidoons Zaaga'igan Zhaawanong in Pine County near the Pine County Public School.

By VIVIAN LaMOORE, INAAJIMOWIN EDITOR

Hundreds of lakes, streams, peaks, parks, and other geographical locations that once had names with racist slurs for Native American women have been officially renamed. The Mille Lacs Band Department of Natural Resources had the opportunity to contribute to renaming 11 of those, including one lake in Pine County, Minnesota.

As reported in the May issue of the Inaajimowin, Sq-- Lake in Pine County was one of the locations bearing the derogatory slur for Native American women. The Mille Lacs Band DNR suggested the name be changed to Manidoons Zaaga’igan Zhaawanong. In Ojibwe, this means “Little Spirit Lake of the South” or “South Bug Lake.” That name was accepted and the lake is officially renamed Manidoons Zaaga’igan Zhaawanong.

The initiative was led by Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland. In November, Haaland declared the term derogatory and created a panel that takes suggestions from the public on changing places named with derogatory terms. Haaland created Secretarial Order 3404 and Secretarial Order 3405 to make these changes.

The Mille Lacs Band submitted 31 recommendations for name changes. The U.S. Board of Geographic Names (BGN) has accepted 11 of them, with only one of them being in Minnesota. The other 10 were in other states, including Indiana and North Dakota — all outside of the Band's Treaty Ceded Territories, but well within the Anishinaabe Usual and Accustomed Places. Once the name changes associated with SO 3405 become finalized, there may be others in the other 20 suggested names that would also be accepted, since the Mille Lacs Band list of 31 recommended name changes cover both SO 3404 and SO 3405.

Initially, the BGN had misspelled Manidoons Zaaga’igan Zhaawanong. The Band DNR notified them immediately upon seeing the misspelling, but the erroneous spelling had already been reported by media outlets. “We received a message from BGN apologizing for the transcription error on their part,” said Charlie Lippert, Mille Lacs Band DNR. The BGN told the Band the misspelling would be fixed. And as promised, very soon after the apology, the error had been fixed. “This was amazing! I have never seen BGN act so swiftly,” Lippert said.

Following is a list of the 11 accepted name changes:

• Sq-- Lake (FID: 2069951) to Manidoons Zaaga’igan Zhaawanong — a lake in Pine County, MN, immediately east of Pine City, south of Cross Lake

• Sq-- Island (FID 1046611) to Winous Island — an island in Sandusky County, Ohio

• Sq-- Harbor (FID 1057737) to Oak Point Harbor — a bay in Ottawa County, Ohio

• Sq-- Creek (FID 1066976) to Girard Creek — a stream in Trumbull County, Ohio

• Little Sq-- Creek (FID 1066814) to Little Girard Creek — a stream in Trumbull County, Ohio

• Sq-- Valley Lake (FID 1078010) to Liberty Valley Lake — a reservoir in Stark County, Ohio

• Sq-- Branch (FID 444031) to Pleasant Run East Branch — a stream in Carroll County, Indiana

• Sq-- Creek (FID 444034) to Heron Creek — a stream that flows through Allen and Whitley Counties, Indiana

• Sq-- Run (FID 444036) to Woodland Run — a stream in Marion County, Indiana

• Sq-- Run (FID 444037) to Indian Run — a stream in Franklin County, Indiana

• Sq-- Point (FID 1032270) to Mitigomizh Neyaashi – on Lake Metigoshe in Bottineau County, North Dakota. In Ojibwe, this means “Oak Point”

The complete list of accepted geographic names changed in SO 3404 may be viewed at: https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/all-official-sq-names

The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) operates the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) who has the Board of Geographic Names (BGN) that maintains the Geographic Names Information Systems (GNIS). GNIS is the list of all officially endorsed place names in the United States. All U.S. government products, be it reports, maps, or even in consultation, must call geographical features by the name provided in the GNIS. The BGN determines what goes onto the GNIS.