Sierra County weighing new name for Jim Crow Road Eric Escalante
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A one-mile stretch of road in Sierra County is stirring some debate among people in the area due to a potential name change in its future.
The debate stems from a request by property owners along Jim Crow Road to change the road s name.
The road s name refers to a Native Hawaiian man during the Gold Rush, whose namesake can be found on a ravine, stream and the aforementioned Jim Crow Road, according to the LA Times.
However, there’s dismay with the name among the people who live on the street and among the people who visit the Sierra Shangri-la (SSL) resort due to the phrase “Jim Crow” being tied to racist laws that segregated Black people.
A fight over Jim Crow Road divides rural Northern California town
Brittny Mejia, Los Angeles Times
May 31, 2021
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Downieville, California, United States, North AmericaEmily Riddell/Getty Images/Lonely Planet Images
LOS ANGELES, Calif. As the story goes, a Native Hawaiian man came as a Gold Rush pioneer to a mountainous swath of Sierra County to strike it rich.
His name was given to a ravine, a stream and a street off scenic Highway 49, three miles east of Downieville, Calif. That’s how Jim Crow Canyon, Jim Crow Creek and Jim Crow Road came to be.
Generations later, people who own property along the less-than-a-mile-long road, including a small mountain resort, say that Jim Crow has got to go.
Supporters of changing the street's name say it evokes the racist laws that kept Black people segregated in the American South. Opponents call the proposed name change "woke cancel culture" run amok.