What was the process for reaching this decision? The Board’s decision enables the organization to focus its time, resources, and capacity on the organization’s new Strategic Plan and putting its equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging (EDIB) commitments into action. Why did the Board decide to keep the name?īased on the critical threats to birds that Audubon must urgently address and the need to remain a non-partisan force for conservation, the Board determined that retaining the name would enable NAS to direct key resources and focus towards enacting the organization’s mission. Given his complex legacy, the Board initiated a process to consider whether the organization should change its name. Today, more than 100 years later, we are called to re-examine John James Audubon’s legacy through a different lens. While there can be no doubt of the impact of his life’s work and passion for birds, he was also an enslaver, whose racism and harmful attitudes toward Black and Indigenous people are now well-understood. Audubon was a naturalist and illustrator whose work was an important contribution to the field of ornithology in the mid-19th century.

The National Audubon Society was founded in 1905 and named after John James Audubon, 50 years after his death. What prompted the Board’s process to consider a name change?

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