Calif. county to replace headstones bearing n-word

PLACERVILLE, Calif. (AP) - The graves hold pioneers from a Gold Rush settlement called Negro Hill...

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

PLACERVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Supervisors in a Northern California county have voted to replace 36 gravestones that bear the N-word, giving the green light to state, county and community officials to design an alternative.

The graves hold pioneers from a Gold Rush settlement called Negro Hill.

The federal government moved the bodies from the mining town in 1954 to make way for a dam. In the process, concrete headstones were erected that say the people came from N-word Hill.

The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday took its most decisive action yet in unanimously agreeing to get rid of the offensive gravestones.

The supervisors requested input from a group of black advocates who presented a prototype of the headstone they want as a replacement.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.

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