The Trouble With Tubman Highway

Miami FL

03 June, 2021

8:49 AM

Description

Miami Times Staff Report, the Miami Times Jun 1, 2021 Change comes slowly and often incrementally. "Dixie" is derived from Jeremiah Dixon, a surveyor of the Mason–Dixon line drawn in 1767, which defined the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania, separating free and slave states. In 1859, the musician and performer Daniel Decatur Emmett composed "Dixie," a minstrel song that included the now-famous refrain "Away, away, away down south in Dixie!" The song was a smash hit in its day and later became the de facto national anthem of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Emmett's ditty is now generally credited with popularizing "Dixie" as a nickname for the southern states. Trying to scrub more than 160 years of history from our midst may not take another 160 years to achieve, but it hasn't and won't come easily. Miami-Dade County commissioners voted to rename in a 3.5-mile section of Dixie Highway in North Dade to Harriett Tubman Highway 15 months ago, but no street signs have been changed. Mayor Daniella Levine Cava did not respond to a request for comment, but referred questions to the Department of Transportation and Public Works. After last week's Miami Times print deadline, spokesperson Luis Espinoza said in an email that "the renaming … is a major undertaking that requires coordination with multiple municipalities, local and state agencies. The Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW) is working with all agencies and municipalities involved. Currently, the county is pending approval from the State legislation prior to the completion of this project." State legislation required all 10 cities and the county to approve the Tubman name change. Coral Gables refused to do so, dooming the bill. Then last Tuesday, after this year's Florida legislative session ended, Coral Gables commissioners had a change of heart. With Coral Gables the last to join, Tubman's name will be officially placed on two signs at the beginning and end of South Dixie Highway – while the Dixie name will continue on many dozens of signs in between. "Additionally, the county resolution may require an amendment to add a separate designation for each of the three roads under county jurisdiction," said Espinoza. "Specific road designations that may be considered by the Board would be West Harriet Tubman Highway, South Harriet Tubman Highway, and Old Harriet Tubman Highway. This would be done in order help first responders easily identify the correct location of an emergency during a 911 call." West Dixie north of 163rd Street is a county-controlled road that does not need state approval to change. But County Commissioner Sally Heyman, whose district includes the northern part of West Dixie, told The Miami Times last week that waiting for the state to act first made more sense, so that a long array of Tubman signs could be mass produced at cheaper cost to replace the old Dixie signs to "save the taxpayers money." So, while it's hard to keep it all straight, the bottom line is we may have to wait for next year's legislative session before any real movement on this issue takes place. Even then, expect more obstacles. Statewide, many conservative politicians still embrace the Confederacy and the old Dixie. And even if the Legislature votes in favor of the name change, the ball will bounce back into Miami-Dade County and into the laps of employees at the Department of Transportation and Public Works. The Miami Times is the largest Black-owned newspaper in the south serving Miami's Black community since 1923. The award-winning weekly is frequently recognized as the best Black newspaper in the country by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.