Dixie (song) - Modern Interpretations

Modern Interpretations

Beginning in the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s, African Americans have frequently challenged "Dixie" as a racist relic of the Confederacy and a reminder of decades of white domination and segregation. These feelings were amplified when white opponents to civil rights began answering songs such as "We Shall Overcome" with the unofficial Confederate anthem.

The earliest of these protests came from students of Southern universities, where "Dixie" was a staple of a number of marching bands. In 1967 black cadets at The Citadel refused to stand for "Dixie" or to sing and perform it at football games. Similar protests have since occurred at the University of Virginia, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Tulane University. In 1968, the President of the University of Miami banned the song from its band's performances.

The debate has since moved beyond student populations. Members of the 75th United States Army Band protested "Dixie" in 1971. In 1989, three black Georgia senators walked out when the Miss Georgia Sweet Potato Queen sang "Dixie" in the Georgia chamber. Meanwhile, many black musicologists have challenged the song's racist origins. For example, Sam Dennison writes that "Today, the performance of 'Dixie' still conjures visions of an unrepentant, militarily recalcitrant South, ready to reassert its aged theories of white supremacy at any moment.... This is why the playing of 'Dixie' still causes hostile reactions."

On the other hand, for many Southerners, "Dixie", like the Confederate flag, is a symbol of Southern heritage and identity. Southern schools maintain the "Dixie" fight song, often coupled with the Rebel mascot and the Confederate battle flag school symbol, despite protests. Confederate heritage websites regularly feature the song, and Confederate heritage groups routinely sing "Dixie" at their gatherings. In his song "Dixie on My Mind", country musician Hank Williams, Jr., cites the absence of "Dixie" on Northern radio stations as an example of how Northern culture pales in comparison to its Southern counterpart.

Others consider the song a part of the patriotic American repertoire on a par with "America the Beautiful" and "Yankee Doodle". For example, Chief Justice William Rehnquist regularly included "Dixie" in his annual sing-along for the 4th Circuit Judicial Conference in Virginia. However, its performance prompted some African American lawyers to avoid the event.

Campaigns against "Dixie" and other Confederate symbols have helped create a sense of political ostracism and marginalization among working-class white Southerners. Confederate heritage groups and literature proliferated in the late 1980s and early 1990s in response to criticism of the song. Journalist Clint Johnson calls modern opposition to "Dixie" "an open, not-at-all-secret conspiracy" and an example of political correctness. Johnson claims that modern versions of the song are not racist and simply reinforce that the South "extols family and tradition." Other supporters, such as State Senator Glenn McConnell of South Carolina, have called the attempts to suppress the song cultural genocide.

Performers who choose to sing "Dixie" today usually remove the black dialect and combine the song with other pieces. For example, Rene Marie's jazz version mixes "Dixie" with "Strange Fruit", a Billie Holiday song about a lynching. Mickey Newbury's "An American Trilogy" (often performed by Elvis Presley) combines "Dixie" with the Union's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and the negro spiritual "All My Trials".

As an instrumental piece, to countless people "Dixie" signifies nothing more than "Southern United States". This interpretation has been reinforced through years of American popular culture. For example, the soundtracks of cartoons featuring Southern characters like Foghorn Leghorn often play "Dixie" to quickly set the scene. On the television series The Dukes of Hazzard, which takes place in Georgia, the car horn of the General Lee plays part of the melody from the song. Sacks and Sacks argue that such apparently innocent associations only further serve to tie "Dixie" to its blackface origins, as these comedic programs are, like the minstrel show, "inelegant, parodic dialect-ridden". On the other hand, Poole sees the "Dixie" car horn, mimicked by white Southerners, as another example of the song's role as a symbol of "working-class revolt". However, in more serious fare, "Dixie" signals "Southern."

For example, Max Steiner quotes the song in the opening scene of his late 1930s score to Gone with the Wind as a down-beat nostalgic instrumental to set the scene and Ken Burns makes use of instrumental versions in his 1990 Civil War documentary.

In a widely publicized and controversial incident, Senator Jesse Helms deeply offended Carol Moseley Braun, the first black woman in the Senate and the only black senator at the time. Soon after the 1993 Senate vote on the Confederate flag insignia, which opponents saw as an overt symbol of racism—both for the history of racial slavery in the United States and for establishment of Jim Crow laws—Helms ran into Moseley Braun in an elevator. Helms turned to his friend, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R.-Utah), and said, "Watch me make her cry. I'm going to make her cry. I'm going to sing 'Dixie' until she cries." He then proceeded to sing the song about "the good life" during slavery to Moseley Braun.