It was a risk that likely was not perceived back in 1886, when Forest and Stream magazine editor George Bird Grinnell, distraught over the mass slaughter of birds, decided to name his new organization after one of the most noted artists and naturalists of his time, John James Audubon.
Audubon’s legacy had become entwined with the scientific study of birds and the ideals of conservation, and within a year, Grinnell’s Audubon Society had attracted 39,000 members, each of whom signed a pledge to “not molest birds.”
Audubon, who documented the birds of North America in detailed paintings and influenced the study ornithology, was not, however, the heroic character he was portrayed to be. Seen in the harsh light of the modern world, Audubon has been revealed as a slave owner who rejected abolition, and a man who stole Native American remains to proffer the absurd theory that the white man was the superior race.
