A top U.S. conservation group has announced it will no longer be called the Audubon Naturalist Society in response to the “pain” caused by its slaveholder namesake, John James Audubon, reports The Guardian. Though the organization has not decided on a new name, it will no longer be named after Audubon, a famed bird expert who was also a slave owner, anti-abolitionist, and racist writer. Lisa Alexander, executive director of the wildlife sanctuary group, says the “mission and vision of the organization have not changed” despite its name’s dissonance with the group’s diversity efforts. “The deliberate and thoughtful decision to change our name is part of our ongoing commitment to creating a larger and more diverse community of people who treasure the natural world and work to preserve it,” said Alexander. “It has become clear that this will never be fully possible with the current name.”
