Amid Confederacy Debate, Could Austin Change Its Name?

AUSTIN, TX — A recent official review of municipal property in Austin with direct or indirect ties to the Confederacy, aimed at removing Southern symbols of the Civil War, yielded an immutable fact: The man for whom the city is named, Stephen F. Austin, worked against efforts to abolish slavery.

The finding has given rise to some support to rename the city.

Dubbed "The Father of Texas," Austin was at odds with the Mexican government's effort to abolish slavery at a time when the Lone Star State was but a province named Tejas. At the time, Austin was arguably the region's most successful businessman, bringing in farmers and ranchers seeking to secure unsettled land.

Even though Austin in 1831 proclaimed slavery to be the "curse of curses," he saw it as something of a necessary evil. If freed, he added, slaves would become “vagabonds, a nuisance and a menace.” And so, he found loopholes in maintaining the unpaid, forced labor forces as a necessary piston in the economic engine of the times.

The city's Equity Office last week recommended, as a high priority, renaming seven streets and removing three historical markers honoring figures of the Confederacy. In a second enumeration of items without recommendations but with suggested review, officials asked for light to be shed on other lingering vestiges of the past that — while not connected directly to the Confederacy — were indisputably tied to racism, segregation and slavery.

On a list of places the Equity Office merely suggested for reconsideration are Pease Park, the Bouldin Creek neighborhood, Barton Springs and 10 streets named for William Barton, a slave owner nicknamed the “Daniel Boone of Texas.” who was a slave owner. Warranting more immediate action are several streets named after Confederacy figures, including:

• Littlefield Street
• Tom Green Street
• Sneed Cove
• Reagan Hill Drive
• Dixie Drive
• Confederate Avenue
• Plantation Road

In the Equity Office reckoning, one name jumped out among all of them: The name of the city itself — Austin. The surname is among those for whom places are named that is, shall we say, problematic given recent resurgence in banishing Confederacy-era homages.

City officials have telegraphed to various media outlets there are no plans to rename the city, despite of its namesake's checkered past as it relates to slavery. In its list, the Equity Office placed the cost of renaming the targeted streets at $5,956.23. Not included was an estimate to completely rename the city itself — a scenario that would undoubtedly come at a cost of untold millions.

Aside from the financial cost, there's the logistics involved. Changing the city's name would require an election as the city's name would have to be removed and replaced on the city charter.

Add to the mix an iron-clad conservative-led Legislature that jealously protects symbols of the Confederacy on Capitol grounds — a position taken if only to avoid alienating ultra-conservative constituents of lawmakers' political base — and the chances of such a renaming become that much more unfathomable.

The massive Confederate Soldiers' Monument on the grounds of the state Capitol includes a plaque that reads: "Died for States' Rights Guaranteed Under the Constitution. The people of the South, animated by the spirit of 1776, to preserve their rights, withdrew from the federal government in 1861. The North resorted to coercion. The South, against overwhelming numbers and resources, fought until exhausted."

Related stories:

As Nation Grapples Over Confederacy Symbols, Texas Fiercely Protects Theirs

Austin Streets Honoring Confederacy Figures To Be Renamed

University Of Texas At Austin President Orders Removal Of Confederate Statues

5 Austin Schools Named After Confederacy Figures To Be Re-Named

Austin Leaders Take First Step In Renaming Robert E. Lee Road

So, no. The City of Austin probably won't be renamed anytime soon.

But with the recent resurgence of enthusiasm nationwide to relegate Confederacy symbols to the dustbin of history, the move is not entirely outside the realm of implausibility The zeal for for shuttering Confederacy symbols began in earnest after the 2015 mass shooting of black churchgoers in Charleston, S.C. by a white nationalist who enjoyed posing with symbols of the Confederacy in his social media postings. Since that hate-filled tragedy, 113 Confederate symbols across the country have been removed, according to a June report from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

So it could happen. Couldn't it?

A portrait of Jefferson Davis, the onetime president of the Confederacy, hangs in a hallowed piece of real estate within the state Senate chamber, cordoned off to block closer access to Capitol visitors and tourists.

On the off chance a renaming is one day in the offing — and speaking strictly hypothetically given the remote change of such a re=branding — what would your suggestion be as an alternative name for the capital city? Tell us your ideas in the comments section below.

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