In 2002, the Los Angeles Sentinel reported on the efforts of a Washington state lawmaker to rename a highway dedicated to Jefferson Davis, the sole president of the CSA. The highway was christened the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway in 1939 and two markers were put up by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Blaine and Vancouver, spanning the entire state. According to the Sentinel, this was part of the UDC’s project of building a Jefferson Davis Highway across the entire country.[1]
After Representative Hans Dunshee, a Democrat, noticed the marker near the Washington-Canada border dedicating the highway to Davis, he sponsored a bill to have the highway renamed for William P. Stewart, a Black Union soldier who lived in Washington.
The bill passed the state House in a unanimous vote before being sent to the Senate. But as the Sentinel reported, popular responses to the proposal were far from unanimous. Responses to Dunshee’s bill ranged from protests to angry letters to threats of violence. Dunshee had to ask the State Patrol to protect his family and told the Sentinel he had “a live snake in [his] living room.”[2]
The controversy made waves beyond Washington. One woman from Florida wrote to Dunshee, “I will have to come to Washington State and give you what you deserve! I may be just a woman but I will slap and spit in your stupid racist face.”[3]
Dunshee argued that a man who advocated for secession and slavery should not be honored by the state. He believed that the marker instead belonged in a museum, telling the Sentinel “It is critical we remove that stamp of approval.”[4]
The Sentinel reported that although the bill was expected to easily pass the Senate, some state lawmakers disagreed with Dunshee and many locals expressed their opposition to the proposal. A local paper wrote a statement chastising Dunshee, which the Sentinel reprinted in their report. The Herald stated “Dunshee is making an issue where none exists. It’s not like this is the Deep South and there’s a highway dedicated to Ku Klux Klan founder Nathan Bedford Forrest.”[5] Marian Harrison, a descendant of William P. Stewart, told the Sentinel that she was not bothered by the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway, but thought a memorial to her ancestor should also be established.[6]
Dunshee’s bill died in the state Senate in March. This prompted the NAACP and the Urban League to launch their own campaign to have the highway renamed. The Associated Press (AP) wrote in an article republished by the New Pittsburgh Courier that the civil rights groups planned to distribute a petition and host a letter-writing campaign addressing the state Senate and the committees who oversaw the state’s parks and roads.
Local NAACP President Oscar Eason stated, “To have anything named after Jefferson Davis, particularly in the Northwest, is an insult to African-Americans and how far we’ve come in this country toward healing those wounds.”[7]
The effort transcended racial boundaries; Roberto Maestas, the executive director of El Centro de la Raza, Seattle’s Hispanic community center, told the AP, “We must never underestimate the power of symbols.”[8]
It was not until 2016 that the situation finally changed. In March of that year, the Washington State Legislature unanimously passed a bill asking the state transportation commission to rename the highway as the William P. Stewart Memorial Highway. That May, the commission agreed to the proposition.
A transnational Jefferson Davis Highway did exist at one point in the United States, starting in Arlington, Virginia and extending south and west to San Diego, California. However, several states and towns it once ran through have renamed their sections.^9
Olivia Haynie
Please cite as:
Haynie, Olivia. “‘Never Underestimate the Power of Symbols’: The Jefferson Davis Highway in Washington State.” False Image of History: Perspectives on Confederate Commemoration from the Black Press (online). Fall 2024 Edition. Schaefer, Donovan O., ed. URL = https://falseimage.pennds.org/essay/jefferson-davis-highway/.
References
Associated Press, “Davis Monument Removal Campaign,” New Pittsburgh Courier, April 6, 2002.
Cook, Rebecca. “Effort to Rename Highway for Black Union Soldier Draws Fire.” Los Angeles Sentinel. February 21, 2002.
Wikipedia.org. “Jefferson Davis Highway.” Accessed August 3, 2023. Available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Davis_Highway
Cook, “Effort to Rename Highway for Black Union Soldier Draws Fire,” Los Angeles Sentinel. ↩︎
Cook, “Effort to Rename Highway for Black Union Soldier Draws Fire,” Los Angeles Sentinel. ↩︎
Cook, “Effort to Rename Highway for Black Union Soldier Draws Fire,” Los Angeles Sentinel. ↩︎
Cook, “Effort to Rename Highway for Black Union Soldier Draws Fire,” Los Angeles Sentinel. ↩︎
Cook, “Effort to Rename Highway for Black Union Soldier Draws Fire,” Los Angeles Sentinel. ↩︎
Cook, “Effort to Rename Highway for Black Union Soldier Draws Fire,” Los Angeles Sentinel. ↩︎
Associated Press, “Davis Monument Removal Campaign,” New Pittsburgh Courier. ↩︎
Associated Press, “Davis Monument Removal Campaign,” New Pittsburgh Courier. ↩︎