Other offences
Some American Indian groups have long tried to get lawmakers to remove "squaw" from location names, arguing that the word is a derogatory term for women.
In the Florida Keys, Jewfish Creek has kept its name despite a petition by a Washington man who argued that it was anti-Semitic. While some efforts to change names have met with limited success, historians and geographers say movements to erase "the `N' word" are altogether less controversial.
"It's the ultimate politically incorrect thing," said David Pilgrim, professor at Ferris State University and director of the Jim Crow Museum in Big Rapids, Michigan.
He said legislation will not stop people now from referring to locations by offensive names, but that over time it may.
"That won't get rid of it in the local lore, in the many towns where people refer to `black bottom' or `niggertown' or `darkietown' in the local lingo," he said of legislation. "But eventually, when you change laws it makes a difference."
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