JONESBORO, GA — A one-tenth mile stretch of road in Jonesboro once known as White Line Street, a name long associated with racial segregation now has a new name and a new meaning.

This week, the Jonesboro City Council voted to rename the street “Starr Drive,” honoring a local family with deep ties to the community and closing a chapter on an uneasy reminder of the city’s segregationist past.

“It’s always served as a demarcation of neighborhoods and communities whether it’s White or Black,” said Councilman Alfred Dixon, who led the effort to change the name. “Jonesboro has its history, but when we had the opportunity to choose unity over divisiveness, we didn’t hesitate.”

According to city leaders, the change was prompted after members of the Starr family, lifelong residents, confirmed the street’s original name was indeed tied to Jim Crow-era segregation, separating Black and White neighborhoods.

“What exactly the street name meant, what it symbolized, it was time for change,” Dixon said.

The renaming comes more than 60 years after the end of Jim Crow laws.

WSB’s Steve Summers contributed to this story