# Lady Antebellum is now Lady A **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 11, 2020, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486 "2020-06-11T21:20:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486/21 "2020-06-12T15:14:48Z")
It was OK to say Negro, Colored, Black etc. times change ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486/22 "2020-06-12T15:34:40Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > It was OK to say Negro, Colored, Black etc. times change They were formed in 2006, not 1906. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486/23 "2020-06-12T15:51:53Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Fourteen years as a band and now they’re _just_ learning of the word’s association to slavery? Lying, or stupid - you make the call! Yep, that’s my take as well. I’ve been in diversity and inclusivity meetings lately, and have had otherwise smart, thoughtful people (and not just cis white males) share things like "I recently learned that I should stop saying “pow wow” ", or “I just learned what microaggressions are.” It kind of blows my mind, but I think people, even well-intended people, just don’t pay attention, are too self-absorbed and not self-aware, and otherwise fail at learning things that are not necessary for getting through the day. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486/24 "2020-06-12T16:04:58Z")
What they won’t tell you is what the A stands for. It is dark. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486/25 "2020-06-12T16:45:02Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > What they won’t tell you is what the A stands for. It is dark. Yeah. Those who want to can still see the word there and love (or hate) them. They should have gone for Lady B. It would seem “conscious”. But then again that might not be something they want to advertise. When you think about it the old name of the band is a perfect descriptor of the engine behind most lynchings that have occurred. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486/26 "2020-06-12T17:09:27Z")
True, **drad dog** – but then again anything other than a complete name change will be seen as “they are leaving a marker there for those who know the back story”. If NASCAR can take down the rebel flag, then a music group can drop the “Antebellum”; of course that the associations have been known for years, and were carried on because it was well seen by the audiences. Hey, sure, sometimes an organization realizes that the audiences change and retaining some old identity signifier will be Bad For Future Sales; _that is a perfectly fine reason to divest from it._ **Eonwe** , well but that is not unusual or surprising. Just to pick on one of your examples, the majority even of “otherwise smart, thoughtful people” \*will not have even heard of WTH is a \*“microaggression” until very, very recently. That most of humanity indeed don’t pay attention to, and have not, do not and will not learn, things that are not necessary for getting through the day, should not amaze anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486/27 "2020-06-12T18:41:51Z")
Should have changed their name to Lady Reconstruction. Also good thing Soup Plantation already went out of business for COVID or else there would be a very expensive rebranding in their future. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486/28 "2020-06-12T18:55:44Z")
**Bijou Drains** , nobody but you needs to hear about you having unclean thoughts about anyone, especially not about someone you regard as a “girl”. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486/29 "2020-06-12T19:02:14Z")
Until recently I never really recognized the racist connotation; I mean, I knew the word meant pre-[Civil] War, but I always considered it a neutral term referring to a specific era, like Gilded Age or Colonial. But I’m aware that’s a product of my white northern upbringing. As a kid I never gave a second thought to the Confederate flag either - I mean those Duke boys were good guys and it was right there on their car! So I understand it taking a while to see these things through the eyes of the people who suffered under it. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486/30 "2020-06-12T19:05:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **Bijou Drains** , nobody but you needs to hear about you having unclean thoughts about anyone, especially not about someone you regard as a “girl”. Have you ever heard the term “joke?” That’s something I noticed about many liberals (and I am liberal myself) they can’t seem to take a joke. There was a skit on SNL way back called “Make Joan Baez laugh” that explains that idea. I tried to find that skit online but no luck so far. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486/31 "2020-06-12T19:19:25Z")
Lady A will always hold a special place in my heart for that time I somehow downloaded ‘Leave You Now’ as an additional song in Rock Band, and played my first _listening_ of this song at Expert level (on the guitar)… and got 100% of notes played. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486/32 "2020-06-12T19:24:30Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Have you ever heard the term “joke?” That’s something I noticed about many liberals (and I am liberal myself) they can’t seem to take a joke. There was a skit on SNL way back called “Make Joan Baez laugh” that explains that idea. I tried to find that skit online but no luck so far. For it to be a “joke”, it should be funny. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486/33 "2020-06-12T19:34:55Z")
It was a joke in the sense that people should know I was not really thinking about her at all. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486/34 "2020-06-12T20:21:06Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > It was a joke in the sense that people should know I was not really thinking about her at all. 😕 What in the world would make people think that? ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486/35 "2020-06-12T20:55:23Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > Until recently I never really recognized the racist connotation; I mean, I knew the word meant pre-[Civil] War, but I always considered it a neutral term referring to a specific era, like Gilded Age or Colonial. But I’m aware that’s a product of my white northern upbringing. As a kid I never gave a second thought to the Confederate flag either - I mean those Duke boys were good guys and it was right there on their car! So I understand it taking a while to see these things through the eyes of the people who suffered under it. Is the word “antebellum” itself now somehow racist? Literally, it just means “before the war” and in the U.S. will nearly always mean “before the American Civil War” specifically (and certainly so for a country music group from Nashville). But I don’t know that “antebellum” necessarily indicates approval of the political, economic, and social institutions of the pre-Civil War South–I can’t see why references to “antebellum architecture” or “dueling and the culture of ‘honor’ in the antebellum South” or “antebellum slave patrols” would indicate any approval of or identification with that time and place. After all, you can also say “The antebellum South was a racist and oppressive society, and it’s a darned good thing the Union won The War!” Naming your band “Lady Antebellum”, of course, does rather imply such approval of, or at least identification with, the pre-Civil War South; but I don’t see why the word itself would need to be generally purged from our vocabulary. I would say it really depends on the context. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486/36 "2020-06-12T21:01:15Z")
There’s also the issue of the blues singer Lady A not quite liking the name change. > [@Asuka](#): > > Should have changed their name to Lady Reconstruction. > > Also good thing Soup Plantation already went out of business for COVID or else there would be a very expensive rebranding in their future. Lady Reconstruction & the Carpetbaggers. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486/37 "2020-06-12T21:11:01Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Is the word “antebellum” itself now somehow racist? Literally, it just means “before the war” and in the U.S. will nearly always mean “before the American Civil War” specifically (and certainly so for a country music group from Nashville). But I don’t know that “antebellum” necessarily indicates approval of the political, economic, and social institutions of the pre-Civil War South–I can’t see why references to “antebellum architecture” or “dueling and the culture of ‘honor’ in the antebellum South” or “antebellum slave patrols” would indicate any approval of or identification with that time and place. After all, you can also say “The antebellum South was a racist and oppressive society, and it’s a darned good thing the Union won The War!” > > Naming your band “Lady Antebellum”, of course, does rather imply such approval of, or at least identification with, the pre-Civil War South; but I don’t see why the word itself would need to be generally purged from our vocabulary. I would say it really depends on the context. I don’t thinking anyone is saying “you can’t say that word.” But use of the word in a positive connotation is certainly problematic. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486/38 "2020-06-12T21:26:40Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > Completely lying. It’s one of those things where country music openly celebrated slavery and everyone thought it was nifty. They talked about the origins of the name long, long ago. They knew. Pro-slavery just sells well with their target audience. I’m not sure you have a good grasp of who their target audience is. They are not “wife took my dog and my truck” country. They are pop music top 40 crossover barely country. To me their biggest song doesn’t even sound at all like country. Their target audience is anyone who likes pop music. I would guess that the percentage of the general population that either have no idea what the word means or think it’s “something about the south” is extremely high. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486/39 "2020-06-12T22:45:11Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I’m not sure you have a good grasp of who their target audience is. They are not “wife took my dog and my truck” country. They are pop music top 40 crossover barely country. To me their biggest song doesn’t even sound at all like country. Their target audience is anyone who likes pop music. > > I would guess that the percentage of the general population that either have no idea what the word means or think it’s “something about the south” is extremely high. I can’t say for sure what the band knows or what associations they make when they hear the word- but I’m about 20 years older than them, and although I knew the word had something to do with the pre-Civil War south, I no more associated it with slavery than I associate “pre-war apartment” with concentration camps. Especially since I typically see “antebellum” used to refer to an architectural style. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486/40 "2020-06-12T22:45:41Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > It was OK to say Negro, Colored, Black etc. times change It’s not OK to say ‘black’ now? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-antebellum-is-now-lady-a/855486.md?page=3)