No, Austin isn't changing its name
Last week, Austin's Equity Office recommended that the Texas capital rename seven streets with Confederate-linked names and remove three history markers celebrating the Confederacy. But while Dixie Drive, Confederate Avenue, and Plantation Road may disappear in Austin, the city is unlikely to change its name, as not-quite-proposed in a second list of municipal items not directly tied to the Confederacy but tangentially connected through things like slavery and segregation. On that second list, proposed for discussion by the City Council, was the city's name itself, an homage to the "Father of Texas," Stephen F. Austin.
Austin, who died in 1836, had a complicated relationship with slavery, clearly tolerating it and encouraging retaining slavery for the economic success of Texas but not embracing it ideologically. Still, "no one sees this as an attempt to change the name of the city," David Green, a spokesman for the city, told The Washington Post on Sunday. Changing Austin's name would require a citywide vote, and lots of debate over what appellation would be better — perhaps Waterloo, Austin's name before 1839.
Walter L. Buenger, a history professor at the University of Texas at Austin, called the idea of changing Austin's name "far-fetched," and Gregg Cantrell, a Stephen Austin biographer and history professor at Texas Christian University, said the proposal wouldn't even make sense. Austin "didn't leave a paper trail" on whether he viewed African Americans as inferior to whites, Cantrell told the Post, but since he died three decades before the Civil War began, he wasn't a seditious figure like the Confederate generals and leaders whose monuments are being removed across the country. "Austin never had to make the choice Robert E. Lee made," Cantrell said. "We can't tar him with that particular brush."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
6 scenic white water rafting destinations to get your heart racing
The Week Recommends Have a rip-roaring time on the water
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
Dangerous substances in Lunchables are raising concerns over children's health
In the Spotlight High levels of lead and sodium were recently found in the snack packages
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
The Week contest: Fired art
Puzzles and Quizzes
By The Week US Published
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprising
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published