Buffalo Soldier Draw

33°05′00″N 101°33′00″W / 33.083333°N 101.550000°W / 33.083333; -101.550000

Buffalo Soldier Draw (formerly Dead Nigger Draw and Dead Negro Draw) is a valley in Garza and Lynn counties, Texas, in the United States.[1] When wet, the valley contains a stream which runs 3 miles (4.8 km) until it reaches the Double Mountain Fork Brazos River.[2]

It was called "Dead Nigger Draw" until 1963, when the then United States Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall mandated that the word "Nigger" in geographic names on federal maps and other products be changed to "Negro".[3][4] Both names probably commemorate the Buffalo Soldier tragedy of 1877.[5] On April 9, 2020, the United States Board on Geographic Names approved Garza County Judge Lee Norman's request to rename Dead Negro Draw to Buffalo Soldier Draw.[6]

  1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Buffalo Soldier Draw
  2. ^ Water-supply Paper. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1920. p. 75.
  3. ^ "Dead Negro Draw". The Handbook of Texas. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  4. ^ Principles, Policies, and Procedures: Domestic Geographic Names, Version 1.0 (PDF) (Report). United States Board on Geographic Names. 2016. p. 15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-07-12.
  5. ^ "From Negro Creek to Wop Draw, place names offend". NBC News. 26 February 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  6. ^ Oxner, Reese (December 11, 2020). "Why Do So Many Places In Texas Have 'Negro' In Their Name, Despite A Law Against It?". NPR. Retrieved June 14, 2021.