'Dead Negro' in TN and Other American Towns with Unbelievable Racist Names

The Richmond Times-Dispatch did some digging into the name Negro Foot — and it’s even more racist than you’re imaging. According to their reporting, the name appears to be a reference to a severed foot taken from an enslaved African as form of punishment. The unincorporated town was actually originally called N***erfoot, but in 1981 the name was reportedly “cleaned up” according to the Virginia Mercury.

According to reporting from Capital B, the creek that flows in both Kansas and Missouri was named after a Black man who died in the water while attempting to escape slavery. However, other reporting suggest it was named after the community’s first Black settler. In 2021, the creek was renamed Adams creek after the last name of the Black man it was originally named after.

If you read Anna, Illinois and thought it was on this list by accident — think again! According to reporting from ProPublica Illinois, the name actually stands for “Ain’t No N***ers Allowed” signifying the rural town as a “sundown town,” i.e. a town that didn’t allow Black people after sundown.

In New Mexico, there’s reservoir named Wetback Tank, a derogatory slur used to describe Mexican Americans.

Up until 2023, hundreds of bodies of water, mountains, and valleys all across the United States had the name “Squaw” in it, a derogatory slur for Native American women. In fact, Squaw Valley was the name of the ski resort where the U.S. olympic team trained, it was recently re-named. The remaining similarly derogatorily named places were changed by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland last year. 

Pickaninny Buttes is the name of a summit in San Bernardino County, California. The name remains despite significant outrage. For those who don’t know, “pickaninny” is a racial slur in the United States for Black children.

Another bizarrely named summit is Darky Knob in Kentucky — and yes, it’s still named that.

Last year, Colorado’s Geographic Naming Advisory Board voted unanimously to change the name of Chinaman’s Canyon to Toisan Canyon, a reference to a Chinese province where many immigrants migrated to the United States from in the 1800s.

Red Skin Knolls is a mountain range in Utah. For those who don’t know, the term has been used as a derogatory slur for Native American people.

Dead Indian Pass is a mountain pass in Wyoming. We probably don’t need to explain why people find the name offensive.

As we previously mentioned, this is a slur for Native American people.

Thankfully, this is another example of a recent name change. “Negro Branch” a tributary in Texas was re-named Ada Simond Creek in 2021 after the Black activist and writer, according to the Washington Post.

In 2021, the U.S. Board of Geographic Names approved a proposal to change the name of Negro Head summit to Henry Flipper Hill. Hill was a Black man who was born into slavery in Georgia before becoming the first Black graduate of West Point. Over a dozen other places, including Negro Branch, were re-named under the order.

After countless petitions to re-name Dead Negro Hollow, a valley in Tennessee, the name was officially changed to Bonham Hallow in 2019. While the origins of the name aren’t clear, rumor has it that it was named after a murdered Black man in the 1700s who’d discovered a secret gold mine.