Dixie
“To them [black students], ‘Dixie’ is more than a song. It is a symbol…a ‘manifestation of racism on this campus.’”
--from article, "Song, Symbol, Sacrifice?"
--from article, "Song, Symbol, Sacrifice?"
Dixie was written during the Civil War. It was loved by the North, but eventually it moved down South, and the Confederacy turned it into their fight song. Because of this Dixie is considered a racist song by many. The University of Arkansas used to play Dixie as a fight song for the football team. Because of its racist background, many of the African American students did not want it to be played. In 1969 the tradition was stopped and was never played again at any of the games.
Interview with Band Director Eldon Janzen about Dixie
“The first time I ever heard the word Dixie was in 1969 after I’d been hired to come to the university. And I was on a ladder on the outside of our home painting the house getting it ready to put on the market to sell so that we could move to Fayetteville. And my wife came outside and said there’s a reporter from Arkansas on the telephone that wants to talk to you. And I thought that was interesting. So I came down off the ladder and without any preparation or background of what we were going to talk about, he said, 'I understand you are the new band director for the University of Arkansas.' I said,'Yes, sir, that’s correct.'”
"He said, 'What are you going to do about Dixie?' And I thought, 'I wonder who she is.' Because in my interview I had gotten some feedback from some of the people about the majorettes who were overweight, and it flashed in my mind that maybe Dixie was the fattest one of the majorettes.”
--Eldon Janzen
--Eldon Janzen
"When you realize what the implication of the song was it’s a whole different sociology that you are learning. I can remember I was interviewed for the Pine Bluff News…I remember in that particular interview they asked me ‘Well, what about the implication of playing Dixie this year?’…and I made the comment ‘Well, I think it’s a pretty good spirit song. I’d kind of like to hear it played at the games.’ …It wasn’t until I got back to Fayetteville…all this stuff was being printed in the Arkansas Traveler…and all of a sudden it started to hit me that this particular song is being used to lead this parade of hate against a class of people. And whenever that hit, it was a different world…It’s kind of like learning that …there was something not quite real about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. It’s kind of the same thing when you realize that a song that you’ve always loved…you loved it for one reason but yet it was being used by the majority as a tool for something else."
--Dr. Tyler Thompson, band member and drum major
Interview with Civil Rights Expert Dr. John Kirk on Dixie
"I think people are against the playing of Dixie because of its historical associations with the Confederacy and the Confederacy’s associations with slavery and slavery’s relationship to African American history, so it’s part of a cultural package, I think, which many African Americans in particular and some whites also find offensive in the sense that it … is seen to promote the values of the Confederacy. Central to the values of the Confederacy, many
would argue, is the idea of slavery and therefore playing Dixie in the modern context carries forward a symbolism of continued white supremacy."
--Dr. John Kirk
would argue, is the idea of slavery and therefore playing Dixie in the modern context carries forward a symbolism of continued white supremacy."
--Dr. John Kirk
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Copyright Zoe Tollette and Samantha Fish 2012