DIXIE CARTER IN MY LIFE

Dixie Carter's classic beauty, and Southern sensibilities held a spell over me watching her show, DESIGNING WOMEN. I didn’t watch Bill Cosby’s show nearly as much because I grew up in that kind of household with a lot of attention from my parents. Dixie Carter’s elegant way brought to my attention a deep sense of the South. All of the dark history of the South that subjugated people, and justified the degradation, and exaltation of white women was uppermost in mind making it difficult to function on a daily schedule, or to like white folks.

During a time I found it hard to see the beauty of white women this show reached through the dark red fire of my rage against whites in general, and white men in particular. I was in a dark place, but I studied the characters of this show. The show’s writers laid out a range of issues that met my needs to study what I believed, or thought important. I allowed the challenges to my core, my manhood, my African sense of being, and my parent role as a father. What held my rage in place? How do I envision a different view of white women? Is there an appreciative beauty within the people I held in contempt? How do I justify my fascination with a comedy show with its token Black man who fell into a stereotype: the feminine ex-con, of all things.

I know that women tell the stories of their people. Dixie Carter slowly peeled off the layers within my thought process. My mind, held under the spell of her accent, her fine lines, her beautiful legs, the way she sat, the elegance she own, and shared, and the voice that held so much mystery, and intelligence, was changing my form. Slowly, episode after episode, I began to see more and more revelations within her until I saw how a man could love a white woman. The evolving love story between her TV boyfriend was captivating. It was a slow dance that had no reason to rush. It was a dance slow enough to connect nuances to bolder declarations of need. The ice, and coldness of my heart was melting.

–Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

Dixie Carter happy with her husband

Hal Hollbrook & his wife Dixie Carter