The "Nigger Town" That Escaped Government Censors

Headnote

A century ago Nigton, Texas, was a thriving community of 500 black folk. Today only 40 black residents remain. Liberals and the NAACP are pressing to rename Nigton, but the black residents of the town want to maintain the status quo.

In 1962 a federal agency - the United States Board on Geographic Names - abolished the use of the words "Nigger" and "Nip" (a derogatory term for Japanese people) from official placenames in the United States. For the moment, these are the only two racially insulting words that have been officially banned. Prior to 1962 there were hundreds of towns, streams, and mountains that used the word Nigger in their names. Nigger Creek, Nigger Gulch, Nigger Hill, and Nigger Valley were common terms found on maps of the United States.

After the 1962 federal ban most of the placenames that once included the word Nigger were simply replaced by the term...