The effort to rename Dallas' Akard Street

Edward Sebesta, a Dallas author and researcher, is campaigning for the city to change the name of Akard Street, which runs next to City Hall.

Sebesta, who has written several books about both the Confederacy and modern white supremacists, tells Axios he wants Akard Street to be re-named after rapper Lil Nas X.

• "It will be a first for an African American gay person to have a street in Dallas," Sebesta says. "It will be a strong message for Dallas City Hall."

Why it matters: WCC Akard, for whom the street is named, came to Texas from Missouri during the Civil War in an effort to keep enslaved children from being emancipated.