Regarding our Chapter Name
Recently the National Audubon Society has been going through a difficult reassessment of its relationship to its namesake, John James Audubon. One issue is that Audubon owned enslaved people, buying and selling them as his fortunes ebbed and flowed, which they often did. In this he was not particularly exceptional for his time. However, he also was an ardent anti-abolitionist and an active participant in a racist endeavor to “prove” the superiority of white people and the inferiority of others, including Blacks, Native Americans and Mexicans. This belief was based on the pseudoscience of “phrenology,” which posited the size and shape of human skulls indicated the mental capacity and capabilities of an individual. In his travels, Audubon procurred human skulls and sent them to Samuel Morton at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Morton was the world’s leading human skull collector, and explicitly intended to use his collection to prove the superiority of the Caucasian “race.”
The board of the National Audubon Society considered this issue in 2023 and decided not to change the name of the organization, citing the value of the “brand” based on its long history in conservation. Nevertheless, a number of Audubon chapters across the nation have decided to drop Audubon’s name while continuing to pursue bird conservation. In New Mexico, the Central New Mexico Audubon chapter has renamed itself Bird Alliance of Central New Mexico, and the chapter based in Silver City has decided to sever its association with the Audubon name, although it has not yet chosen a new one.
Late in 2023 the board of the Sangre de Cristo Audubon chapter surveyed its membership about the issue of the name of our chapter and whether or not we should retain Audubon’s name in it. We received 181 responses to our survey from our email list of a bit more than 2,000 names. The breakdown was 55% in favor of a name change and 45% opposed. Many respondents wrote heartfelt and even passionate comments on the subject, but it is clear that there was no overwhelming majority for or against a name change.
The chapter’s board has received and considered the results of this survey, and has decided to take no action at this time. The board will continue to consider the issue but has set no deadline for a final decision.