Florida city renames Old Dixie Highway to honor Obama

The city of Riviera Beach, Fla., is renaming its Old Dixie Highway as the President Barack Obama Highway, according to the Palm Beach Post.

The city is replacing signs on the highway in its jurisdiction following a 4-1 city council vote in August to remove the word “Dixie” from public signage.

{mosads}Critics say the term is a reference to the slave-holding South.

Riviera Beach Mayor Thomas Masters, whose city is 66 percent black, spearheaded the effort to name the highway after the first African-American president.

The renamed highway at one point intersects with a road named after iconic civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

The change comes amid an emotional national debate about the propriety of displaying symbols of the pro-slavery Confederacy on public grounds.

Several states have removed Confederate battle flags from public property after a shooting at an African-American church in Charleston, S.C., earlier this year.

The New Orleans City Council on Thursday voted to remove statues on public property depicting Confederate war heroes, including Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Civil War Gen. Robert E. Lee.