MONTGOMERY — State NAACP President Edward Vaughn objects to having Mobile’s Azalea Trail Maids as Alabama’s only group in the presidential inaugural parade. He says they remind him of slavery days.

Vaughn says he thinks Alabama will be a “laughing stock” at the inauguration.

The 50 high school seniors in the racially integrated Southern hospitality group wear pastel-colored hoop dresses and matching bonnets reminiscent of the Civil War era.

Vaughn of Dothan told the Montgomery Advertiser for a story Thursday that for the swearing-in of the nation’s first black president, Barack Obama, marching bands from historically black Tuskegee University or Alabama State University would have been a better choice.

The Presidential Inaugural Committee, set up by Obama, selected the parade participants.