FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Citing its racist connotation, the Broward County Commission wants to rename Dixie Highway, but local cities will have the final say, commissioners agreed Tuesday.
Opponents of the name of the road _ which has the same name as the song "Dixie," dubbed the anthem of the Confederacy _ say it has come to represent racism and segregation.
Broward Mayor Dale V.C. Holness called the name a "vestige of that painful period of time."
Vice Mayor Steve Geller agreed the name needs to go, but said he'd prefer it named after someone from South Florida, such as a Marjory Stoneman Douglas-type activist. He proposed a naming contest to come up with a new designation.
Geller said he would "prefer someone with Florida" connections, as opposed to national figures who helped free slaves. "We should ask the voters," he said.
In eastern Broward County, Dixie Highway runs through Dania Beach, Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Hallandale Beach, Hollywood, Oakland Park, Pompano Beach and Wilton Manors. The southern half of Dixie is a county road, but it passes through cities.
"The cities will need to say 'Yes, we want a name change,'" Holness said. He said he has heard opposition to his idea as far away as Kentucky, but nobody from Broward.
But Commissioner Lamar Fisher has had some local pushback, mostly from business owners who don't want the expense of changing their address. "Some are barely making it," he said.
Holness suggested renaming Dixie Highway to recognize a civil rights leader such as Sojourner Truth, an escaped slave and prominent feminist who also helped recruit black troops for the Union Army during the Civil War, or Harriett Tubman, also an escaped slave, who led hundreds of family members and other slaves to freedom on an elaborate secret network of safe houses known as the Underground Railroad.
But another name was suggested Tuesday: W. George Allen, who died in December and was a hugely influential figure in Broward history and its black community.
Allen was at the forefront of the civil rights movement, including playing a key role in integrating public schools in Broward County by filing a landmark 1970 lawsuit.
Now, the issue will go the cities. The county didn't take a final vote Tuesday, but the issue is expected back within three months after cities weigh in on the issue. Holness said the estimated cost to remove and replace road signs varies from $100,000 to $200,000.
Some people "hear the name Dixie and it's painful for them," Holness said. The next step is for cities "to chime in. Ultimately it's each individual city that will determine whether the name changes."
