In the antebellum South, daughters of the aristocracy wore billowing hoop skirts to festive balls, where they were waited on by black slaves.

I imagine that young slave girls cast looks of longing on those glamorous threads, wishing that they too could showcase their good looks in similar fashion.

Fast forward to the 21st century. Young black women can mingle with their white peers at festive events such as the inauguration of an African-American president. They are part of a group known as the Azalea Trail Maids, pulchritudinous representatives of the city of Mobile, that “honeysuckle heaven” deep in the Heart of Dixie, which likes to showcase its beauties of all colors in the garments of antebellum splendor.

I’m reminded of the words of Martin Luther King Jr. in his “I Have a Dream” speech:

“I have a dream that one day … right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”

Well, big black girls are joining hands with big white girls in sisterly fashion right there in Alabama, and they’re fixing to do so right there on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. in front of President and Mrs. Obama and all the world. Doesn’t that look like the fulfillment of a dream fit for a King?

Whoa, there folks. Edward Vaughn, president of the Alabama NAACP, says the pastel-colored dresses the Azalea Trail Maids wear represent slave times, and that the girls will be the laughingstock of the inaugural parade.

I’m going to make the rash prediction that if there’s a laughingstock in connection with this event, it will be Mr. Vaughn.

The 50 Azalea Trail Maids include 39 Caucasians, eight African-Americans, two American Indians and one maid of Asian descent. If the maids were all white, I can imagine someone objecting — with justification — that the young women were not truly representative of the Mobile or the Alabama population.

Are the hoop skirts inappropriate?

Not in my book. Alabama is a Southern state, for crying out loud, and the antebellum costume says “elegance” in a Southern drawl. The dresses were part of Southern fashion during the middle of the 19th century. They were contemporary with slavery, and the women who wore them rose to the top of a society underpinned by slavery.

But that society is now near the end of an evolution into an inclusive milieu in which the descendants of 19th century slaves can aspire to the status of the aristocratic maidens their pre-Civil War ancestors had to wait on. Don’t bash these girls because they’re taking their places beside the descendants of the 19th century elite. Congratulate them because they are now deemed to be part of a multi-racial elite based on good looks, poise and personality.

If Edward Vaughn’s definition of laughingstock were applied to other areas of Southern tradition, then a lot of black men now hailed as heroes would be shunning the limelight.

In Alabama, there is no more sacred tradition than that of the Crimson Tide on the gridiron. In another age, the crimson-and-vanilla uniform was reserved exclusively for white men. Gov. George Wallace made his famous stand in the schoolhouse door in an effort to keep the University of Alabama lily white. Black athletes had to achieve whatever prominence they could from all-black institutions such as Alabama State and Alabama A&M.

This year, the crowds at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa were turning out 90,000 strong to give full-throated cheers for the likes of Julio Jones, Terrence Cody, Antoine Caldwell, Rashad Johnson and Rolando McClain — black men all. They led Alabama into contention for a national championship. Tide fans didn’t mind at all that they were black. And these gridiron heroes didn’t regard the Alabama uniform as a symbol of segregated days. In fact, black children across Alabama dream of the day when they’ll be able to trot onto the field in that uniform to become a part of one of America’s premier gridiron traditions.

The same can be said of the University of Georgia’s Knowshon Moreno, Mohammed Massaquoi and A.J. Green, who teamed with white quarterback Matthew Stafford to provide the bright spots in their team’s 10-3 season. I can remember when, back in the ’50s, the boys at the University of Georgia staged a panty raid on the women’s dorm in protest of Gov. Marvin Griffin’s edict forbidding rival Georgia Tech from playing in the Sugar Bowl. The reason: Tech’s opponent, the University of Pittsburgh, had a black player on its squad.

Douglas Wilder didn’t turn down the governorship of Virginia because the state had championed slavery and had used Massive Resistance to try to thwart desegregation of public schools. He proudly aspired to — and won — the office that had played a major role in discriminating against his people.

I realize that I write from the perspective of a white Southerner, and that Edward Vaughn, as a black Southerner, has a different perspective. But those black Azalea Trail Maids have a perspective of their own as products of a generation that grew up after their parents and grandparents had conquered Jim Crow.

Let them wear those hoop skirts in celebration of the conquest.

Readers may write Gene Owens at 317 Braeburn Drive, Anderson SC 29621 or e-mail him at WadesDixieco@AOL.com