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Movement builds to rename Highway in Va. named after Confederate leader

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ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) - More than 3,000 people have signed petitions calling for Virginia to remove Confederate leader Jefferson Davis' name from a state highway.

The name Jefferson Davis Highway applies to U.S. 1 that runs from the Potomac River through Virginia to the North Carolina border. Other highways in the South are also named for Davis.

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According to the Federal Highway Administration, advocates wanted a Southern equivalent to the coast-to-coast Lincoln Highway.

Vienna, Virginia, lawyer Daniel Zim wrote on a Change.org petition that Davis was an unrepentant white supremacist who believed slavery was right. He says it's outrageous for the Virginia road to bear his name.


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