The back cover of the 2003 S.C. Legislative Manual features photographs of retired U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond from his segregationist past -- and several black lawmakers are unhappy about it.

State Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, questioned the choice of Thurmond for the manual's back cover. He and state Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Richland, said the photos chosen, which include pictures of Thurmond as a Citadel cadet and as a World War II soldier, are inappropriate.

Jackson and Ford said the front cover of the manual, which features a recent portrait of Thurmond, is fine. The photographs on the back, he said, are from an era when blacks were subject to cruel prejudice from government and its leaders -- including Thurmond.

The picture on the front, Ford said, is of a man who spent 25 years reaching out to African-Americans.

"They destroyed that on the back with the picture of Strom Thurmond, the racist segregationist," Ford said.

The criticism marked the second straight day that Thurmond's legacy on race relations created a public stir, prompting Thurmond supporters to say that the criticisms are unfair and misguided.

Republicans and Democrats called on Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards to apologize Wednesday for what they said were insulting comments about Thurmond.

The U.S. senator from North Carolina said he is a different kind of Southerner from Thurmond and Trent Lott -- the former Senate majority leader from Mississippi who last year said the country would be better off had Thurmond won his segregationist presidential campaign in 1948.

The choice of cover art for the manual falls to manual editor Sandra McKinney, the clerk of the House. She and House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, chose Thurmond.

"He was the man of the century for the state of South Carolina, and we wanted to recognize him," McKinney said.

She and Wilkins said they did not choose photographs from Thurmond's 1948 Dixiecrat campaign, during which he declared not even the U.S. Army could enforce integration in the South. Instead, they said they chose pictures to highlight the 100-year-old Thurmond's military career.

Thurmond was a 39-year-old circuit court judge when the U.S. entered World War II in 1941. Too old to be drafted, Thurmond signed up for duty, and after being assigned to a desk job, he volunteered to fly a glider with the Army's 82nd Airborne. He participated in the D-Day attack at Normandy, France.

Thurmond won five Battle Stars, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and several other awards and medals.

"We were very cognizant of not doing anything that would be offensive to anyone," Wilkins said. "Who can criticize a person for volunteering for military service and flying behind enemy lines?"

State Sen. John Courson, R-Richland, who chaired the committee that created the Thurmond monument on the State House grounds, said he was angered by the criticism of the cover art.

Thurmond "served our state with tremendous honor and dignity," Courson said.

The legislative manual is in its 84th edition. It includes biographies and contact information for all state and federal elected officials, plus information on state agencies and histories of the state and its customs.