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Blue_In_AK

(46,436 posts) Thu Jul 2, 2015, 03:20 PM Jul 2015

New name announced for Alaska census area named after Confederate general.

http://www.adn.com/article/20150702/wade-hampton-no-more-new-name-announced-alaska-census-area-named-confederate

JUNEAU -- Gov. Bill Walker has made official Alaska's intent to change the name of a census area named for confederate military officer Wade Hampton.

Walker sent a letter to U.S. Census Bureau Director John Thompson, saying he planned to now refer to the region in western Alaska as the Kusilvak Census Area to honor the wishes of local residents. The area is home to the Kusilvak Mountains.

Last month, the city and village of Hooper Bay passed a resolution calling for that specific name change.

The president of the Association of Village Council Presidents says the push began months before the deadly June shootings in South Carolina that brought renewed attention to remnants of confederate history. But Myron Naneng Sr. said that elevated the issue.

In depth background here: http://www.adn.com/article/20150425/western-alaska-push-rename-district-honors-slave-owning-confederate-general

This is a good move.

8 replies

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New name announced for Alaska census area named after Confederate general. (Original Post) Blue_In_AK Jul 2015 OP

Why on Earth would anything in Alaska have been named for a Confederate general? KamaAina Jul 2015 #1

Seriously, if any two states had zero reason to have Confederate namesakes NuclearDem Jul 2015 #2

Essentially all Americans in Hawai'i supported the Union KamaAina Jul 2015 #4

A judge in 1913 named it after his father in law. Travis_0004 Jul 2015 #5

Beats me gratuitous Jul 2015 #6

The history is in the second link. Blue_In_AK Jul 2015 #8

K&R Solly Mack Jul 2015 #3

K & R malaise Jul 2015 #7

KamaAina

(78,249 posts)

1. Why on Earth would anything in Alaska have been named for a Confederate general?

Reply to Blue_In_AK (Original post)

Thu Jul 2, 2015, 03:24 PM

Jul 2015

NuclearDem

(16,184 posts)

2. Seriously, if any two states had zero reason to have Confederate namesakes

Reply to KamaAina (Reply #1)

Thu Jul 2, 2015, 03:29 PM

Jul 2015

it's Alaska and Hawaii.

KamaAina

(78,249 posts)

4. Essentially all Americans in Hawai'i supported the Union

Reply to NuclearDem (Reply #2)

Thu Jul 2, 2015, 04:00 PM

Jul 2015

remember, Hawai'i was an independent country back then. Most of the missionaries and, of course, whalers came from Massachusetts.The American planters even tried to raise a Foreign Legion-like regiment for the Union, and were crushed when the king informed them that they couldn't, since Hawai'i was neutral.

And because of this, almost no Southerners fled for Hawai'i afterwards, the major exception being Victoria Ward, for whom Ward Centers and Ward Avenue in Honolulu are named.

Travis_0004

(5,417 posts)

5. A judge in 1913 named it after his father in law.

Reply to KamaAina (Reply #1)

Thu Jul 2, 2015, 04:37 PM

Jul 2015

gratuitous

(82,849 posts)

6. Beats me

Reply to KamaAina (Reply #1)

Thu Jul 2, 2015, 04:47 PM

Jul 2015

There's a stretch of highway in Washington state named in "honor" of Jefferson Davis.

Some of the rebels never got the message from Appomattox.

Blue_In_AK

(46,436 posts)

8. The history is in the second link.

Reply to KamaAina (Reply #1)

Thu Jul 2, 2015, 05:10 PM

Jul 2015

Basically, it boils down to this:

Hampton, who died in 1902, never came to Alaska. But his son-in-law did and, after a dramatic arrival in Nome, used his position as a territorial judge to name a mining district for his late father-in-law, according to a history of the town of Marshall.

Solly Mack

(90,767 posts)

3. K&R

Reply to Blue_In_AK (Original post)

Thu Jul 2, 2015, 03:29 PM

Jul 2015

malaise

(268,998 posts)

7. K & R

Reply to Blue_In_AK (Original post)

Thu Jul 2, 2015, 04:49 PM

Jul 2015

Good move

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