Old Dixie Highway in Riviera Beach, FL is no more. Now when you travel down that highway you’ll be driving on President Barack Obama Highway. Riviera Beach officials renamed the highway. The new sign went up on Thursday displaying the name of the United States of America’s first black president. This highway holds a lot of history and memories for many people. Old Dixie officials have said it paid homage to an era that glorified slavery. The name was symbolic of racism that took place many years ago, cross burnings and the KKK and Riviera Beach Mayor, Thomas Masters says it was time for change. Check out the rest of this story after the jump.

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Some of America’s older generation must be so happy and proud to have witnessed a black man in office for the past eight years and not only that but to have the first black president of the United States of America have such a symbolic and historical highway named after him.

On Thursday Riviera Beach, FL official’s decided to change the name of the Old Dixie Highway. Dora Johnson, 77, said that once she had once witnessed a cross burning on Old Dixie Highway. That highway held so many bad and terrible memories that it was time for a change. The city council voted to rename the highway in August due to the banning of the Confederate flags and monuments. A national debate over such symbols began anew following after the June shooting of nine parishioners by a white gunman inside a historic black church in South Carolina.

The Dixie Highway system was born in the early 1900’s out of a desire to connect people further north to Florida, and the road snaked from the Midwest to the South. Residents in Riviera Beach, which is nearly 70 percent black, spoke out in August in favor of the change, and cheered as the Dixie Highway sign came down Thursday.

Florida resident, Kendra Williams said

“I love where I’m from. I love the South but I do not love Dixie. Nothing about it represents black Americans.”

President Barack Obama Highway now intersects with Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. How amazing is that? Many Florida residents are happy about the name change. How do you feel about it? Comment below and tell us what you think.

Source: Fox 11 Online