What's In A Name? | Jim Crow Road

In the Georgia town of Flowery Branch about 45 miles northeast of Atlanta, there is a street called Jim Crow Road. GPB Atlanta listener Chris Livingston asked us on our website to find out how the street got its regrettable name.Rickey Bevington on the story of Jim Crow Road.

It's not difficult to understand why some Atlantans want to change the street's name. Jim Crow laws targeted African-Americans for almost a century, suppressing their voting rights and enforcing racial segregation throughout the South.

But according to one family, the road's name doesn't refer to what most people think it does. In a 2015 interview with CBS 46, Randy Crow explained that the street was actually named after his grandfather, Glenn “Jim” Crow.

Randy Crow said calling the road Glenn Crow Road would have been an insult to his grandfather, who insisted that everyone call him Jim. So the street's name remains Jim Crow Road.

Are you curious about a name you've seen around town? Submit it here in the comments section, and we'll find out its origins.