Skip to main content
Advanced Search
Image of the crowd holding signs and waving flags at Dallas Love Field
Image of the crowd holding signs and waving flags at Dallas Love Field

Image of the crowd holding signs and waving flags at Dallas Love Field

Object number1994.003.0005.0001
Date11/22/1963
ClassificationsPhotographs
Photographer Tom C. Dillard
ObjectNegative (b&w)
Credit LineTom C. Dillard Collection, The Dallas Morning News/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumFilm
Dimensions15/16 × 1 7/16 in. (2.4 × 3.6 cm)
Collections
DescriptionOriginal 35mm black and white negative taken by photographer Tom C. Dillard from The Dallas Morning News. The image shows a portion of the crowd of people waiting at Love Field to see President Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy on the morning of November 22, 1963. The crowd stands behind a chain-link fence holding signs and flags. Handmade signs read "All the way with Jack! Grass Roots Dem" and "WELCOME Jack and Jackie TO BIG D." Two boys are holding flags that wave in the wind including the Confederate battle flag, the Texas state flag, and a smaller American flag. An airport sign reading "GATE 28" is attached to a lampost on the right of the image.
Curatorial Commentary
One of the signs visible in this photo is also a part of the Museum's permanent collection (2018.021.0002). A handmade cardboard sign welcoming President Kennedy to Love Field was carried by student Jan Sittel on November 22, 1963. Sittel can be seen leaning against the chain-link fence. Her cardboard sign states "All the Way with Jack! Grass Roots Dem." - Stephanie Allen-Givens, Collections and Exhibits Manager
The controversial Confederate battle flag seen in this photograph may have been brought to Dallas Love Field as a show of school spirit rather than or in addition to a commentary on President Kennedy's support of the Civil Rights Movement. In other photographs, the unidentified young man holding the battle flag can be seen wearing a cardigan with a capital "C," with two crossed swords at the bottom of the letter. This may indicate that this student was attending South Garland High School in Dallas County at the time. Like many other southern schools at the time, South Garland had a Confederate-themed mascot, the Colonel, and crossed swords remain (as of 2021) an emblem of the school. Other area schools had similar Confederate themes at the time. Until 1972, Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas used the Confederate battle flag seen here as a school emblem, with the Rebel serving as their school mascot. From 1951 to 1971, Arlington State College in Tarrant County, west of Dallas, was also home to the Rebels, with the Confederate battle flag flown on campus and Dixie accepted as the school's unofficial fight song. - Stephen Fagin, Curator
Object featured in special exhibition, Two Days in Texas, November 8, 2023 through September 28, 2024.