Image of the Kilgore Rangerettes marching in a Kennedy campaign parade in Dallas
Object number2005.018.0005
Date09/13/1960
ClassificationsPhotographs
Photographer
Anita Hansen
ObjectSlide
Credit LineAnita Hansen Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumFilm
Dimensions2 x 2 in. (5.1 x 5.1 cm)
Collections
DescriptionOriginal 35 mm color slide of the Kilgore Rangerettes marching in a campaign parade for John F. Kennedy in downtown Dallas on September 13, 1960.
The photographer stood on Akard Street near the northwest corner of the intersection with Jackson Street. The photo was taken looking north on Akard Street toward Commerce Street. Crowds line both sides of Akard Street and the balcony of the Baker Hotel. The Adolphus Hotel can be seen in the upper left of the photo. The parade is moving south on Akard Street, toward where the photographer was standing.
Curatorial CommentaryThe Kilgore Rangerettes, from Kilgore College in east Texas, started in 1940 and are known as "the first precision dance team in the world." The Rangerettes continue to perform to the present day. In the early 1960s, the length of their uniform skirts - shortened to above the knee since the program's inception in 1940 - was a subject of some local controversy. - Stephen Fagin, Curator
This photo is one of a series believed to have been taken by Dallas resident Anita Hansen, who attended two parades in two days when presidential candidates Richard Nixon and John Kennedy both made campaign stops in the Dallas-Fort Worth area on September 12th and September 13th, 1960. Hansen photographed both parades. Some of her photos were shot on Kodak Ektachrome film which faded badly over the years. This digital scan of the original slide has been color corrected. - Lindsey Richardson, Curator of Collections
Less than two months after this photograph was taken by Anita Hansen, a significant moment in the 1960 presidential campaign took place near this location on Commerce Street in downtown Dallas. On November 4, 1960, just four days before the election between Senator John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon, Kennedy's running mate, Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson, and his wife, Lady Bird, were accosted by a mob of right-wing demonstrators while crossing the street between the Baker Hotel and the Adolphus Hotel. Particularly in the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination in 1963, this incident was frequently cited as a powerful example of the city's volatile political atmosphere. - Stephen Fagin, Curator
