Audubon Racism Controversy: RA Board To Consider Community Dialogue

RESTON, VA — A community discussion on whether naming one of Reston's lakes after famed artist John James Audubon, who enslaved people, may be needed, a leader suggests.

John Farrell, an at-large member of the Reston Association's Board of Directors, is scheduled to make a presentation at the board's Thursday night meeting to propose a membership dialogue about John James Audubon and his relationship to the community's founding principles.

In recent years, the 19th century ornithologist and author of "Birds of America" has come under criticism for having enslaved at least nine people and being dismissive of the abolitionist movement.

Building a welcoming community that recognizes the "importance and dignity of each individual" is among Reston's founding principles. The fact that one of the community's five lakes is named for Audubon may not align with that sentiment.

In support of his presentation, Farrell has submitted two articles from the Audubon Magazine that are included in the Dec. 15 board documents packet.

The first article, "The Myth of John James Audubon" by Gregory Nobles," reveals that Audubon enslaved nine people in the early 1800s but later sold them when he and his wife were faced with financial difficulties. Then, in the 1820s, the couple enslaved more people and sold them when they moved to England in the 1830s.

Although Audubon used Black men and indigenous people to help with his scientific field work, he never acknowledged them as "socially or racially equal," according to Nobles.

Writing about an expedition he took to Florida in 1831, Audubon described the six enslaved Black men who accompanied him as "hands," while referring to his other companions as "three white men," according to Nobles.

In the second article, J. Drew Lanham, who describes himself as a Black American ornithologist and a Black birdwatcher, tackles the question "What Do We Do About John James Audubon?"

"The seemingly innocuous world of watchers who hold birds and birding as escapes hasn’t itself escaped a glancing blow," Lanham writes. "Injustice and inequity don’t have statutes of limitations and don’t cease to exist where people sling binoculars. Racism doesn’t stop at the borders of migratory hotspots."

Lanham's article expands on segments of Nobles' earlier writing, drawing focus to a story Audubon wrote called "The Runaway" that appears in the five-volume "Birds of America." The artist tells of his encounter with an enslaved family who had fled to the Louisiana swamps. He later returns them to their enslavers.

"If his story is to be believed, the family was 'gladly' imprisoned again," Lanham writes. "Audubon was prone to exaggeration, but even if he made it all up, the lie is almost worse than the truth. Whatever humanity rested in Audubon, it all leaked out into the murky waters that night—or into the story he concocted to double down on his own white supremacy."

The RA Board's meeting will be live-streamed on Zoom starting at 7 p.m., on Thursday. Click on this link to access the meeting. A video of the meeting will be available on the association's YouTube channel.