Huckleberries Online

Indians Laud ‘Squaw’ Removal

Posted by DFO

March 6, 2009 1:30 p.m. • 31 comments

American Indians, joined by whites, on Thursday celebrated the completion of a decadelong project to remove the derogatory word “squaw” from the names of 76 streams, buttes and mountains across Montana. “We celebrate 76 old places and 76 new names,” said Jennifer Perez Cole, Indian affairs coordinator for Gov. Brian Schweitzer. Ch-paa-qn (or Shining Peak or Gray Colored Peak) stands tall on the horizon in Missoula and Sanders counties. The name replaces the old Squaw Peak. Perez Cole said Montana was the second state to undertake such an effort, following Minnesota. Other states have followed. This derogatory word ‘squaw’ was a word used by white men to describe Indian women,” she said. “We sent a message in ‘99 that it was unacceptable”/Charles S. Johnson, Missoulian. More here.

Question: Similarly, efforts are under way in Idaho & Washington to remove the name “squaw” from geographic places. Do you approve of these efforts?

31 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

JeanC on March 06 at 1:53 p.m.
Yup. No matter if the word was originally an innocuous one, it became a derogatory word over time. I for one would like to see place names go back to what they used to be before white settlers showed up.
poolman on March 06 at 3:32 p.m.
Is that part of the stimulus package? Just as long as they don’t rename Butte…
hmoffsuite on March 06 at 3:52 p.m.
In the Only in Idaho department. ….. I have a map of Cda Lake in my 1964 boat that shows the rock at Arrow Point as Ni**er Head”. I also have a map from the late 70’s showing the rock as being “Negro Head”. Current maps simply call it “Arrow Point”. They gave up trying to preserve the ‘heritage’ I would guess. :~)
Dennis on March 06 at 4:04 p.m.
JeanC on March 06 at 1:53 p.m.

< I for one would like to see place names go back to what they used to be before white settlers showed up.>

Agreed!!!!! Like “Crazy Woman Creek” in N. Eastern Wyoming. I have a picture of my wife standing under the HWY Sign!!

:-O
Cabbage Boy on March 06 at 4:13 p.m.
Dennis, that reminds me of a creek back where I grew up. One of them was called “Scare’t Woman creek”. Not sure how that is spelled, but we knew where dad meant when he told us to ride over to Scare’t Woman. The story was about a runaway team and their woman driver I guess.
Dennis on March 06 at 4:21 p.m.
CB, when I first saw that name, I was convinced that this was some settlers idea of an appropriate name for this creek after arriving in camp to a tick’d off wife that decided to bend a cast iron skillet over his head! ;-P

But the name was a translation of the Sioux name for the creek.

Good Stuff!!!!
Cabbage Boy on March 06 at 4:31 p.m.
Speaking of the Sioux, do you know what that name means?

From my understanding it was either the french word or the Crow word for enemy. But the Sioux called themselves Dakota or Lakota which means friends in their language. Just thought it unique that we often call them the Dakota Sioux (friend enemy).
Dennis on March 06 at 4:44 p.m.
I have heard that too. But it’s been a long time. Sioux sticks with me because of an incident with my daughter.

On our first trip to S. Dakota, our daughter, who was 8 years old at the time, saw the HWY sign for Sioux Falls. After a while, I notice that she was mumbling to herself. I asked if she was all right to which she responded “What Does See-Ox Mean?” I nearly rolled the rig!!!
JeanC on March 06 at 4:57 p.m.
LOL, it is fun when trying to figure out how something is pronounced. When my one grandpa first came out west, he was on a bus to LA and kept asking how far it was to “Tuckson” as it was the next stop. He of course was referring to Tucson.

Closer to home, when I was in high school, my mom, brother and I headed up to Canada for a few days. I was in charge of the map and my mom kept asking me how far to Lake Ponderay. I kept saying there was no lake of such name, however there was a little town of Ponderay on the shores of Lake Pend O’Reilly. Sad thing was, I had just finished two years of high school french LOL

I need to travel to Wyoming, I really want a pic of me at that Crazy Woman Creek sign hehehehehehehe
Dennis on March 06 at 5:08 p.m.
JeanC on March 06 at 4:57 p.m.

JeanC, That sign is on I-90 east of Buffalo Wyoming not quit half way to Gillette. It’s in the middle of no-where!!!

Everyone I show that picture to and knows my better half laughs and agrees the pic and message is appropriate!

:-)
Digger on March 06 at 6:25 p.m.
Read this joke out-loud to yourself otherwise it won’t make sense….

So this white man and Indian chief are sitting in a tee-pee. Across the floor runs this big, black bug.

The Indian chief points and says “Black Bug”

The white man says, “squash it”

The Indian replies, “No, Black Bug”.

****

:-)
OrangeTV on March 06 at 7:17 p.m.
Does this mean they’ll be banning Cher’s campy classic “Half-Breed” from the airwaves as well?

My father married a pure Cherokee
My mother’s people were ashamed of me
The Indians said I was white by law
The White Man always called me “Indian Squaw”
OrangeTV on March 06 at 7:29 p.m.
hmsoffsuite wrote “I have a map of Cda Lake in my 1964 boat that shows the rock at Arrow Point as Ni**er Head”.

Actually, I have a story about that. I was working at the front desk at a hotel a few years ago and had a guest ask me for directions to Arrow Point. My instructions didn’t seem to be sticking so I dug around behind the counter for a map that showed the whole lake.

Finally, I found one buried in a dusty pile and laid it out, showing them the route with my finger “…and just keep going down this highway and it’s right there.” I looked closer and realized I was pointing directly at a big nasty old n-word. “N-head Point.” in a nice, bold helvetica.

Yep, the map was quite ancient and I stumbled over my words in an attempt to do damage control “Ahem. Oh well, you know, they changed that name ages ago. We’re not really all racist hicks here in Idaho, I promise.”

Luckily, the guests had a sense of humor and laughed it off, although they did admit to some initial shock. I sent the map through the shredder to spare any future embarrassing incidents.
Stickman on March 06 at 8:00 p.m.
Anything that demeans another race has to be removed. Period.
fortboise on March 06 at 8:33 p.m.
Yes, I support the efforts to rename geographic place names that currently use the S-word.
Sam on March 06 at 9:28 p.m.
I’m sad you shredded the map, OTV. It’s always nice to keep historical documents to remind us of what used to be.

« Back to Huckleberries Online

You must be logged in to post comments.
Please create a profile or log in here.

About this blog

D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.