Another Southern tradition is "incorrect"



We read:

"State NAACP President Edward Vaughn objects to having Mobile's Azalea Trail Maids as Alabama's only group in the upcoming presidential inaugural parade, saying they remind him of slavery days - a characterization that Trail Maids supporters decry. Vaughn said he thinks that Alabama will be a "laughingstock" at the Jan. 20 inauguration. He made his comments in a front-page Montgomery Advertiser story published Thursday.

Vaughn suggested that the Trail Maids' costumes - hoop dresses with matching bonnets and parasols - reflect the state's slavery past and have no place at the inauguration of the first African-American president, Barack Obama.

This year's Trail Maids include eight black members, two maids of Indian descent, one Asian and 39 whites, said Andy Marasca, president of the group. Marasca said he learned of Vaughn's concerns from local media.

"The Trail Maids do not represent the Confederacy or antebellum times but reflect the beauty of Mobile and its 300-plus years of fascinating history," commissioners said in a statement. The first Trail Maid court was formed in 1949, according to the group's Web site.

Source

I must say that they look a bit over the top to me but I am a long way away from Alabama.


Posted by John Ray.