John James Audubon was a racist and the local chapter knows about it. The local conservation group hasn’t chosen a new name and hopes its national parent organization will come up with a suitable alternative. Nine people were enslaved at Audubon’s home in Kentucky. Writing to his wife in 1834, he criticized the abolitionist movement, saying the British had “acted imprudently and too precipitously” in emancipating people in territory they controlled.
A number of staff and volunteers at Portland Audubon are people of color, including Wells. He said the name is a painful reminder of the past and dropping it might help more people feel welcome in nature. Portland Audubon is one of 450 branches of the National Audubon Society. Wells said local society supporters have been waiting for the headquarters to drop the name. That hasn’t happened yet.
So Portland now joins local chapters in Seattle, Chicago and elsewhere that have dropped Audubon on their own. Audubon sold skulls to people working on the debunked pseudoscience of phrenology, which tried to link head shapes with racial superiority. “Portland Audubon has been a leader in the conservation field for its existence,” said Stuart Wells, the group’s executive director.
“Our mission as an organization is one of inclusion and equity and this kind of moniker isn’t consistent with that mission,” Wells said. “In fact, it can be a barrier to people of color, especially Black people.” Now, he says they’re dropping Audubon from the nonprofit’s name. In a statement, the National Audubon Society said it’s in the midst of “a robust decision-making process,” and that it has not set a date for a decision.
Portland Audubon isn’t just another bird club. It’s one of the oldest and largest local chapters of the National Audubon Society. The nonprofit was started 121 years ago and today owns 172 acres of lush woodland in Portland’s Northwest hills, as well as wildlife sanctuaries in Sandy and Yachats.
The 12,000 members also don’t just look at birds. They restore habitat, from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to the coast. They educate kids, run an animal hospital and fund a legal department that fought to protect the northern spotted owl and the marbled murrelet.
John James Audubon was an American artist, adventurer and naturalist. He’s best-known for his book “The Birds of America,” which was published in 1827 with 435 stunning, life-size watercolors of birds. Every now and then a first edition copy comes up for auction and sells for as much as $7 million.
