Earlier this workweek , commissioner in Florida ’s Miami - Dade County nem con voted to rename office of the Dixie Highway after Harriet Tubman .
CNNreportsthat Modesto Abety , former CEO of the county ’s Children ’s Trust , had pen a letter of the alphabet explain how his granddaughter had asked him why " Dixie"—a word referring to the Confederate states , south of the Mason - Dixon line — was still featured prominently on highway signage . She paint a picture it might be more fitting to rename the roads afterHarriet Tubman , alternatively . breathe in by the missive , Commissioner Dennis Moss began the process of doing just that .
“ [ Harriet Tubman ] was the antithesis of bondage , ” Moss told CNN . “ I thought that hypnotism was a good suggestion . ”
consort totheMiami Herald , the update will only apply to the parts of the highway that run through Miami - Dade County — Old Dixie Highway in South Dade and West Dixie Highway in Northeast Dade — but commissioners are promote the rest of Florida to pursue suit .
Even if that happens , there will still be quite a ( literal ) farsighted mode to go before we see “ Harriet Tubman Highway ” on the intact Dixie Highway : The roadway cross a total of 5786 nautical mile across 10 state , all the way from Florida to Michigan .
That enounce , the lack of major foeman to the name alteration in Miami - Dade County bodes well for the time to come of Tubman - baptise road everywhere . Some local did voice concerns about the cost of changing signs and job destination , but the commissioner feel the importance of eliminating a term so closely associated with thralldom would outweigh those costs .
“ The meter is always right to do what is right , ” Moss told CNN , quotingthe sermonMartin Luther King Jr.gave at the National Cathedral just four days before his blackwash in 1968 .
[ h / tCNN ]
