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The organisers billed it as "the event of a lifetime" and, judging by the gaiety inside the Gaillard auditorium in Charleston, most of those present agreed. The women wore silk hoop skirts, petticoats and bloomers, their hair in ringlets; the men wore tuxedos and top hats, while some sported the grey uniform of the confederate army.
They do-si-doed around fake oak trees bedecked with the botanical mascot of the American South, Spanish moss. It was like stepping on to the film set of Gone With the Wind, minus the kissing.
For all the revelry, the gala marked a deeply sombre historical occasion. One hundred and fifty years ago, on 20 December 1860, a group of 169 men gathered in Charleston to sign the ordinance of secession.
Their defiant act made South Carolina the first state to split from the union. It escalated the conflict over slavery into a national crisis, and propelled the country into civil war.
For the 300 or so who assembled for the "secession ball", the tone was one of pride and resilience rather than regret. The guests were exclusively white; the only black people present were security guards wearing uniforms in navy blue, the colour of the union army.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Mark Simpson, commander of the South Carolina branch of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, which sponsored the ball, said the line that the war was fought over slavery was spin</span>,
used by detractors of the south to discredit them. "Slavery was an issue, yes, but only because it was the economic lifeblood of the south."
One of the protesters, Marvin Heller, sang "we shall overcome" in an echo of the 1960s freedom marches. His mother's great, great, great grandparents were brought to Charleston from Africa as slaves. "No, we're not happy there's a celebration of slavery going on here tonight. I'm a proud South Carolinian too. And this is disrespectful to my ancestors – South Carolinians who were enslaved," he said.
They do-si-doed around fake oak trees bedecked with the botanical mascot of the American South, Spanish moss. It was like stepping on to the film set of Gone With the Wind, minus the kissing.
For all the revelry, the gala marked a deeply sombre historical occasion. One hundred and fifty years ago, on 20 December 1860, a group of 169 men gathered in Charleston to sign the ordinance of secession.
Their defiant act made South Carolina the first state to split from the union. It escalated the conflict over slavery into a national crisis, and propelled the country into civil war.
For the 300 or so who assembled for the "secession ball", the tone was one of pride and resilience rather than regret. The guests were exclusively white; the only black people present were security guards wearing uniforms in navy blue, the colour of the union army.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Mark Simpson, commander of the South Carolina branch of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, which sponsored the ball, said the line that the war was fought over slavery was spin</span>,
used by detractors of the south to discredit them. "Slavery was an issue, yes, but only because it was the economic lifeblood of the south."One of the protesters, Marvin Heller, sang "we shall overcome" in an echo of the 1960s freedom marches. His mother's great, great, great grandparents were brought to Charleston from Africa as slaves. "No, we're not happy there's a celebration of slavery going on here tonight. I'm a proud South Carolinian too. And this is disrespectful to my ancestors – South Carolinians who were enslaved," he said.
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