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Fredericksburg to vote on petitioning state to rename Jefferson Davis Highway

On Tuesday, July 14 the Fredericksburg City Council will meet to decide on an action that could change the name of Route 1.

The City Council could vote to petition the Virginia General Assembly to remove the name of Jefferson Davis Highway from U.S. Route 1 statewide. This issue had been brought up at a June meeting of the council following protests in the city Fredericksburg in the wake of the police killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd.

“We find ourselves in a time when our nation, our commonwealth, and our city are grappling with the realities of systemic racism and the failures of our institutions to realize the promises of the ideals on which they were built. The values of our systems and institutions are reflected in the symbols we choose, and the name of a major public thoroughfare is a powerful symbol. Confederate names have no place on American highways. The removal of the name Jefferson Davis from U.S. Route 1 is long overdue. U.S. Route 1 is a prominent statewide corridor, and renaming it is a project of statewide significance," city documents state.

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