Some southern groups celebrate Confederacy

CHARLESTON, S.C., Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Some southern groups are planning balls and parades to honor the 150th anniversary next year of the Confederate States of America, officials say.

While the Sons of Confederate Veterans and similar organizations plan to celebrate the period in February 1861 when 11 states seceded from the union, they also insist secession was not about slavery, The New York Times reports. The Sons plan television commercials to make that point.

"We in the South, who have been kicked around for an awfully long time and are accused of being racist, we would just like the truth to be known," Michael Givens, the group's commander-in-chief, told the Times.

Black organizations disagree with any celebration. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People plans to protest some of the activities.

There are plans for "secession balls," with the biggest to be held in Charleston, S.C., a former slave port, parades and a re-enactment of Jefferson Davis's swearing-in as president of the Confederacy. Lonnie Randolph, head of the NAACP's South Carolina chapter, described the activities as "glamorization and sanitization."

More solemn memorials are already underway. At Antietam in western Maryland, where the deadliest military battle in U.S. history was fought in September 1862, 23,000 candles will be lit this Saturday in honor of the men who died on both sides.