Down In Dixie by Peggy Peattie

This project started as a question and grew to an obsession. Having just moved to South Carolina in 1992, I was amazed at the prevalence of the confederate flag: on bumper stickers, shirts, flying from trucks, trailers, front yards. Locals told me I'd get used to it. But I wondered what it still represented if the war was fought over 130 years before (and lost by the Southern states), and the Civil Rights Movement was decades ago.

I went to flag rallies on my days off. I went to flag protests. I stood beside people whose tee shirts loudly proclaimed "It's about heritage, not hate" and asked them "What then is the heritage, if not hate?"

I talked to European-American farmers who said it's about land, the land their grandfathers worked and left to them. I talked to African-American farmers who said it was about the land their grandfathers worked and were never paid for. That finally they had their own small plot of land and they worked it in honor of their ancestors. I talked with European-American community leaders and politicians who said it's about heritage and honoring the memory of their grandparents who themselves were leaders in the community or fought in the war to preserve a way of life. I talked with African-American cultural preservationists who told me they were determined to maintain respect for the unique traditions of their ancestor who were brought here as slaves from other countries. African-American politicians told me they were committed to advancing civil rights despite attempts to take society back to the days of oppression. The two cultures agreed on the need for honoring their ancestors' memory. Today, this ironic dichotomy as it manifests today is symbolized appropriately by the dispute over the stature of the confederate flag.

When I left South Carolina for graduate school at Ohio University, I was unsure what to do with the images I'd collected so far. That winter the material received a grant from the Alexia Foundation for World Peace and Cultural Understanding. The money allowed me to return south, immersing myself in attempts to dig further under the surface. I met some warm, wonderful people along the way. I learned so much. I came to understand the many perspectives on heritage and the flag. In the images presented here, I hope these points of view come across honestly, so the reader can also further understand and make their own judgements.

-- "The stimulation that means progress is for those that search out the perilous frontiers of the mind." -- Roderick Peattie, 1936



		About The Book

		This project started as a question and grew to an obsession. Having just moved to South Carolina in 1992, I was amazed at the prevalence of the confederate flag: on bumper stickers, shirts, flying from trucks, trailers, front yards. Locals told me I'd get used to it. But I wondered what it still represented if the war was fought over 130 years before (and lost by the Southern states), and the Civil Rights Movement was decades ago. So I asked. I went to flag rallies on my days off. I went to flag protests. I stood beside people whose tee shirts loudly proclaimed "It's about heritage, not hate" and asked them "What then is the heritage, if not hate?" I talked to European-American farmers who said it's about land, the land their grandfathers worked and left to them. I talked to African-American farmers who said it was about the land their grandfathers worked and were never paid for. That finally they had their own small plot of land and they worked it in honor of their ancestors. I talked with European-American community leaders and politicians who said it's about heritage and honoring the memory of their grandparents who themselves were leaders in the community or fought in the war to preserve a way of life. I talked with African-American cultural preservationists who told me they were determined to maintain respect for the unique traditions of their ancestor who were brought here as slaves from other countries. African-American politicians told me they were committed to advancing civil rights despite attempts to take society back to the days of oppression. The two cultures agreed on the need for honoring their ancestors' memory. Today, this ironic dichotomy as it manifests today is symbolized appropriately by the dispute over the stature of the confederate flag. When I left South Carolina for graduate school at Ohio University, I was unsure what to do with the images I'd collected so far. That winter the material received a grant from the Alexia Foundation for World Peace and Cultural Understanding. The money allowed me to return south, immersing myself in attempts to dig further under the surface. I met some warm, wonderful people along the way. I learned so much. I came to understand the many perspectives on heritage and the flag. In the images presented here, I hope these points of view come across honestly, so the reader can also further understand and make their own judgements. -- "The stimulation that means progress is for those that search out the perilous frontiers of the mind." -- Roderick Peattie, 1936