National Audubon Society, pressure to remove slave-owning naturalist’s name, keeps it

[David Lockmiller]

Washington Post
By Dino Grandoni
March 15, 2023

The National Audubon Society, one of the country’s best-known bird conservation organizations, decided in a closed-door vote this week to retain the name of John James Audubon, famed 19th-century naturalist and wildlife illustrator who was also an unabashed enslaver.

The group’s namesake looms large in the world of birds. In the early 19th century, Audubon traveled around the North American wilderness to document the continent’s feathered life.

His vivid paintings of the ivory-billed woodpecker, American flamingo and hundreds of other species culminated in his seminal “Birds of America,” printed between 1827 and 1838.

He died in 1851 a world-famous wildlife artist and ornithologist. Even his critics acknowledge he is the “founding father of American birding.”

[Steve]

(03-15-2023 12:04 PM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  Washington Post
By Dino Grandoni
March 15, 2023

The National Audubon Society, one of the country’s best-known bird conservation organizations, decided in a closed-door vote this week to retain the name of John James Audubon, famed 19th-century naturalist and wildlife illustrator who was also an unabashed enslaver.

The group’s namesake looms large in the world of birds. In the early 19th century, Audubon traveled around the North American wilderness to document the continent’s feathered life.

His vivid paintings of the ivory-billed woodpecker, American flamingo and hundreds of other species culminated in his seminal “Birds of America,” printed between 1827 and 1838.

He died in 1851 a world-famous wildlife artist and ornithologist. Even his critics acknowledge he is the “founding father of American birding.”

Is this the complete article? It doesn't explain much.

[David Lockmiller]

(03-18-2023 12:37 PM)Steve Wrote:  

(03-15-2023 12:04 PM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  Washington Post
By Dino Grandoni
March 15, 2023

The National Audubon Society, one of the country’s best-known bird conservation organizations, decided in a closed-door vote this week to retain the name of John James Audubon, famed 19th-century naturalist and wildlife illustrator who was also an unabashed enslaver.

The group’s namesake looms large in the world of birds. In the early 19th century, Audubon traveled around the North American wilderness to document the continent’s feathered life.

His vivid paintings of the ivory-billed woodpecker, American flamingo and hundreds of other species culminated in his seminal “Birds of America,” printed between 1827 and 1838.

He died in 1851 a world-famous wildlife artist and ornithologist. Even his critics acknowledge he is the “founding father of American birding.”

Is this the complete article? It doesn't explain much.

It's not the complete article. The point that I was attempting to make is about the pressures to erase history as a result of an individual having owned slaves at a time when it was constitutional to do so.

Please note the precautions taken now in 2023 by those who refuse to participate in such historical reprisals: "The National Audubon Society, one of the country’s best-known bird conservation organizations, decided in a closed-door vote this week to retain the name of John James Audubon, famed 19th-century naturalist and wildlife illustrator who was also an unabashed enslaver.

Why was a closed-door vote necessary?

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[Gene C]

(03-18-2023 01:56 PM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  Why was a closed-door vote necessary?

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To avoid harassment focused on the individual.

[David Lockmiller]

(03-19-2023 07:35 AM)Gene C Wrote:  

(03-18-2023 01:56 PM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  Why was a closed-door vote necessary?

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To avoid harassment focused on the individual.

President Joe Biden signed a bill Thursday, June 16, 2022, that will give around-the-clock security protection to the families of Supreme Court justices.

The new law, which passed the House this week and the Senate last month, comes eight days after a man carrying a gun, knife and zip ties was arrested near Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s house after threatening to kill the justice.

The bill calling for the expansion of security protections was approved unanimously by the Senate and passed shortly after the leak of a draft court opinion that would overrule Roe v. Wade and sharply curtail abortion rights in roughly half the states.

No mention was made in the law for protections to be afforded to members of the Audubon Society.