"From Dixie with Love", also known as "Slow Dixie", is an American song combining elements of "

Dixie Dixie, also known as Dixieland or Dixie's Land, is a nickname for all or part of the Southern United States. While there is no official definition of this region (and the included areas shift over the years), or the extent of the area it cover ...

" and the "

Battle Hymn of the Republic The "Battle Hymn of the Republic", also known as "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" or "Glory, Glory Hallelujah" outside of the United States, is a popular American patriotic song written by the abolitionist writer Julia Ward Howe. Howe wrote her l ...

". It was created and predominantly performed as the

fight song A fight song is a rousing short song associated with a sports team. The term is most common in the United States and Canada. In Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand these songs are called the team anthem, team song, or games song. First associated ...

at the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment. ...

. In 2009, Chancellor Dan Jones asked the university's The Pride of the South marching band to stop playing "From Dixie with Love" at university sports events. According to some alumni and current students, it is now banned from being played in public.

History

"From Dixie with Love" was created as a mashup of "Dixie" and the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and started being played in the 1980s. Starting around 2004, students at

Ole Miss Rebels football The Ole Miss Rebels football program represents the University of Mississippi, also known as "Ole Miss". The Rebels compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Western Division of ...

game began altering the final line of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic", which ends "His truth is marching on." Instead, they chanted "The South will rise again!", a reference to the

Lost Cause The Lost Cause of the Confederacy (or simply Lost Cause) is an American pseudohistorical negationist mythology that claims the cause of the Confederate States during the American Civil War was just, heroic, and not centered on slavery. Firs ...

pseudohistory. In 2009, Jones announced that he would ask the band to stop playing the song unless after fans stopped the chant. When they failed to heed his warnings, Jones asked the band to stop. This continued a trend of the University of Mississippi ceasing to use symbols of the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

, and followed the removal of

Colonel Reb Colonel Reb was the official mascot of Ole Miss Rebels, the collegiate athletic teams of the University of Mississippi ("Ole Miss") in Oxford, Mississippi. Designed in 1936, the Colonel served as the teams' official sideline mascot from 1979 unt ...

as a mascot and a 1996 ban on sticks being carried into

Vaught–Hemingway Stadium Vaught–Hemingway Stadium at Hollingsworth Field is an outdoor athletic stadium located in University, Mississippi, United States (although it has an Oxford address). The stadium serves as the home for the University of Mississippi Rebels colle ...

, which effectively prevented the waving of Confederate battle flags at games. The ban was not received well by some students. Before one Ole Miss football game, the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

protested the removal of the song outside the university's chapel; they were outnumbered by counter-protesters and stopped after ten minutes. Some called for Jones to be fired. His contract was not renewed in 2014, leading to speculation that the banning of "From Dixie with Love" played a part of it. The band was still permitted to play "Dixie" itself until 2016, when the university banned that from being played as well.

References

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External links

Ole Miss Band playing "From Dixie with Love"
Ole Miss Rebels University of Mississippi 2009 disestablishments in Mississippi American songs American college songs Censorship of music College fight songs in the United States Southeastern Conference fight songs Race-related controversies in music Music medleys