Confederate battle flag (nonfiction)
Variations of the battle flag of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia (also known as the Southern Cross, Beauregard battle flag, rebel flag, or Dixie flag) continue to be displayed in modern times, most frequently in the Southern United States and sparsely in rural areas across the country.[1][2][3] This occurs despite the Confederacy's duration–1861 to 1865–of just four years, lack of official recognition as a state, and total collapse at the end of the American Civil War.
The phenomenon began soon after the Confederacy's defeat; the use and acceptance of the Confederate flag generally expanded during the nadir of American race relations and the Jim Crow era.[4] In the run-up to the 1948 United States presidential election it was adopted by the Dixiecrats, a short-lived political party which defended racial segregation and opposed civil rights for African Americans.[5][6] The flag was also deployed in direct opposition to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, civil rights movement, and passage of federal civil rights laws in the 1960s.[7]
The display of flags associated with the Confederacy, especially the battle flag, is thus controversial. It is commonly associated with racism, slavery, segregation, white supremacist views,[8] Neo-Nazism, the alt-right, racially motivated violence, treason, pride in Southern heritage, defense of states' rights, historical commemoration of the Confederacy, glorification of the Civil War, and adherence to the pseudohistorical ideology of the Lost Cause.
The 2015 Charleston church shooting prompted a widespread debate regarding the flag's display on public grounds after it was revealed that the perpetrator had posted numerous pictures of himself with the flag and other white supremacist iconography on his personal website. Less than a month after the mass shooting, the South Carolina General Assembly voted by a wide margin to remove the flag from the statehouse grounds. Following Governor Nikki Haley's signature of the bill, the flag was taken down.[14][15]
In 2020, the murder of George Floyd and ensuing protests renewed the intensity of the debate. The U.S. Department of Defense banned exhibition of the flag by uniformed military personnel and on all US military installations around the world.[16] After pressure from both the Southeastern Conference and NCAA, the Mississippi Legislature passed a bill in June 2020 to abolish the state flag (the last to include a Confederate battle flag), remove it from public institutions within 15 days of enactment, and create a nine-member commission to design a replacement that would exclude the battle flag and include the motto "In God We Trust".[17] Governor Tate Reeves signed the bill into law on June 30, 2020.[18][19] The flag commission accepted submissions for a new design from the public and the winner was put to referendum on November 3, 2020. Mississippi voters approved the measure by a wide margin and the new flag went into effect on January 11, 2021.[20]
During the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack, several rioters carried the Confederate battle flag into the building.[21] This was the first time in U.S. history that the Confederate flag was brought within six miles of the Capitol, let alone inside, in an act of insurrection.
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Fiction cross-reference
Nonfiction cross-reference
External links
- Modern display of the Confederate battle flag @ Wikipedia