Harriet Tubman Highway approved in Miami-Dade, replacing ‘Dixie’ over Civil War legacy

Miami-Dade commissioners unanimously approved renaming the county’s “Dixie” highways after Harriet Tubman, replacing a name branded as celebrating a racist legacy with the name of a legendary liberator of Americans subjected to slavery.

The resolution by Commissioner Dennis Moss officially creates Harriet Tubman Highway out of stretches of road currently named Old Dixie Highway in South Dade and West Dixie Highway in Northeast Dade.

The Dixie Highway name remains on U.S. 1 in South Dade, which is part of a federal network of north-south highways but is controlled by Florida. County lawyers have drafted state legislation to replace “Dixie” with “Harriet Tubman” on Florida roads in Miami-Dade, and the Moss resolution instructs the county’s lobbying team in Tallahassee to pursue the change.