Modern display of the Confederate battle flag#Revival and controversy

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{{main|Flags of the Confederate States of America}}

The Confederate States of America used three national flags during the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865, known as the "Stars and Bars" (1861–1863), the "Stainless Banner" (1863–65), and the "Blood-Stained Banner" (1865).

The "Stars and Bars" was unpopular among Confederates for its resemblance to the United States flag, which furthermore caused confusion during battle.{{harvnb|Coski|2005|p=8}}{{cite news|title=The Confederate Battle Flag|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/books/chapters/the-confederate-battle-flag.html|date=April 3, 2005 |access-date=September 7, 2020 }} Criticism of the first national flag led to the rise of the battle flag design, which was incorporated by the "Stainless Banner" and "Blood-Stained Banner". Both of these national designs also failed to gain traction in the South. The "Stainless Banner" was criticized for its excessive white design, creating fears that it could be mistaken for a flag of truce and causing it to be easily soiled.{{harvnb|Coski|2005|pp=17–18}} The "Blood-Stained Banner", issued a little over a month before the Confederacy's surrender, was seldom used due to few flags being manufactured.{{cite web |url=https://confederateflags.org/national/third-national-flag/ |title=The Third Confederate National Flag (Flags of the Confederacy) |access-date=July 29, 2007 |url-status=live |date=May 11, 2000 |first=Devereaux D. Jr. |last=Cannon |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130091945/http://www.confederateflags.org/national/FOTC3dnat.htm |website=confederateflags.org |archive-date=January 30, 2009 }}

{{anchor|The "Confederate flag"}}

File:Our Heroes and Our Flags 1896.jpg

Designed by William Porcher Miles, the chairman of the Flag and Seal Committee of the Confederate Provisional Congress, the flag now generally known as the "Confederate flag" was first proposed and rejected as the national flag in 1861. However, the design was adopted as a battle flag by the Army of Northern Virginia (ANV) under General Robert E. Lee{{cite web | last = Geoghegan | first = Tom | date = August 30, 2013 | title = Why do people still fly the Confederate flag? | work=BBC News | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23705803 | access-date = October 30, 2013 }} and grew in popularity throughout the Confederacy.

To conserve material, the ANV changed Miles' design from a rectangle to a square for the battle flag. The rectangular version, similar to the battle flag used by the Army of Tennessee under General Joseph E. Johnston,{{cite book|last1=Dedmondt|first1=Glenn|title=The Flags of Civil War Alabama|date=2001|publisher=Pelican Publishing|isbn=9781455604319|pages=30–31|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G8L3vlEm6rQC&pg=PA30}}{{cite book|last1=Maberry|first1=Robert|title=Texas Flags|date=2001|publisher=Texas A&M University Press|isbn=9781603443692|page=85|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TM3WMV3HpQ4C&pg=PA84}} is the most popular today and common in modern reproductions. Despite never having historically represented the Confederacy as a country nor been officially recognized as one of its flags, it is commonly referred to as "the Confederate Flag" and has become a widely recognized symbol of the American South.{{cite book|last=Chapman|first=Roger|title=Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vRY27FkGJAUC&pg=PA114|access-date=February 21, 2013|year=2011|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=978-0-7656-2250-1|page=114}} It is also called the "rebel flag", "Dixie flag", "Confederate battle flag", or "Southern cross". Opponents of the flag have referred to it as the "Dixie swastika".{{cite news|title=Dallas trio discusses what inspired 'stupid name' Dixie Chicks and when they noticed it didn't fit them|journal=Dallas News|url=https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment/music/2020/07/08/i-dont-want-to-have-anything-to-do-with-that-why-the-dixie-chicks-dropped-dixie-from-their-name/|access-date=July 20, 2021}} Due to misconceptions of this design being the Confederacy's national flag, it is often incorrectly called the "Stars and Bars" after the original national design.{{harvnb|Coski|2005|p=58}} The self-declared Confederate exclave of Town Line, New York, lacking a genuine Confederate flag, flew a version of this flag prior to its 1946 vote to ceremonially rejoin the Union.{{cite news

|last = Kwiatkowski

|first = Jane

|date = September 7, 2011

|newspaper = The Buffalo News

|url = http://www.buffalonews.com/city/article547531.ece

|title = Secessionist hamlet takes stroll down memory lane; Hamlet of Town Line marks its unique role in the Confederacy

|access-date = September 7, 2012

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://archive.today/20120730041300/http://www.buffalonews.com/city/article547531.ece

|archive-date = July 30, 2012

}}{{cite web|url=https://www.history.com/news/civil-war-secession-new-york-town |date=October 29, 2018 |title=This New York Town Seceded from the Union...for 85 Years|first=Christopher|last=Klein|website=HISTORY}}

{{See also|Allen Central High School#Mascot and flag scandals|Lexington, Virginia#Flag controversy}}

During the "memorial period" that ran from the late 19th century through the 1920s, the use of Confederate flags broadened and became the symbolic embodiment of the Lost Cause.{{harvnb|Coski|2005|p=62}} The Confederate battle flag was added to the state flags of three former Confederate states. The flag of Mississippi included the battle flag from 1894 until 2020, and the flag of Georgia did from 1956 until 2003.{{cite journal|last1=Martinez|first1=J. Michael|title=The Georgia Confederate Flag Dispute|journal=Georgia Historical Quarterly|date=2008|volume=92|issue=2|pages=200–228|jstor=40585055}} The 50th anniversary reunion at Gettysburg in 1913 was a turning point in obtaining national acceptance of the flag and other Confederate symbols. The flag appears prominently in The Birth of a Nation (1915), a highly successful and influential film which promotes eugenics. Woodrow Wilson made this the first ever film to air at the White House during his term as president. Margaret Mitchell's novel, Gone with the Wind, led to a brief but intense period of nostalgia for the Old South during which the Confederate flag appeared widely.{{harvnb|Coski|2005|p=90}} In the film adaptation, the flag flutters over a scene of vast carnage.

File:Marine Corps removal of public displays of the Confederate battle flag (MARADMIN 331 20) - June 5, 2020.png

During World War II, several U.S. military units using Southern nicknames or composed largely of Southerners made the flag their unofficial emblem. Some soldiers carried Confederate flags into battle. After the Battle of Okinawa, a Confederate flag was raised over Shuri Castle by a Marine from the self-styled "Rebel Company" (Company A of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines). It was visible for miles and was taken down after three days on the orders of General Simon B. Buckner Jr. (son of Confederate general Simon Buckner Sr.), who stated that it was inappropriate as "Americans from all over are involved in this battle". The regulation replaced it with 48-star flag of the United States.{{harvnb|Coski|2005|p=91}} By the end of the war, the use of the Confederate flag in the military was relatively rare.{{harvnb|Coski|2005|pp=92–94}} In 1952, Destroyer Division 122 (known as the "Dixie Division" because its four commanders were from the South) was ordered to stop flying the Confederate flag.{{cite news |title=U. S. Ships Told to Stop Flying Confederate Flag |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1952/04/04/archives/u-s-ships-told-to-stop-flying-confederate-flag.html |work=The New York Times |date=April 4, 1952}}

Following the May 2020 murder of George Floyd and ensuing protests, Commandant of the Marine Corps David Berger directed Marine Corps leaders to remove all Confederate-related items from all the Corps' bases throughout the world.{{cite web |author= Gina Harkins |url=https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/02/26/top-marine-orders-confederate-paraphernalia-be-removed-all-bases.html |title=Top Marine Orders Confederate Paraphernalia to Be Removed from All Bases |publisher=Military.com |date=February 26, 2020 |access-date=March 8, 2020}} The entire U.S. Navy soon followed suit, disallowing the exhibition of the Confederate battle flag in all public places on installations, ships, and aircraft.{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-military-race-idUSKBN23G307|title=U.S. Navy to bar Confederate flags from ships, aircraft|date=June 9, 2020|website=Reuters|access-date=June 9, 2020}} After the branch-specific bans, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper issued guidance in July that effectively forbade the display of the battle flag by all uniformed American military personnel and at all US military installations around the world.{{Cite news|date=July 17, 2020|title=US military effectively bans Confederate flag with new policy|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53450820|access-date=November 9, 2021}}{{Cite web|last=Esper|first=Mark|date=July 15, 2020|title=Public Display or Depiction of Flags in the Department of Defense|url=https://media.defense.gov/2020/Jul/17/2002458783/-1/-1/1/200717-FLAG-MEMO-DTD-200716-FINAL.PDF|access-date=November 8, 2021|website=United States Department of Defense}}

The 1948 Dixiecrat political party extensively used Confederate symbols, including the battle flag,{{citation|author1-last=Costa-Roberts|author1-first=Daniel|title=8 things you didn't know about the Confederate flag|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/8-things-didnt-know-confederate-flag|date=June 21, 2015 |website=PBS NewsHour website|access-date=September 7, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220907204938/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/8-things-didnt-know-confederate-flag|archive-date=September 7, 2022|url-status=live|language=en-US|quote=In 1948, the newly-formed segregationist Dixiecrat party adopted the flag as a symbol of resistance to the federal government.}}{{citation|author1-last=Taylor|author1-first=Jessica|title=The Complicated Political History Of The Confederate Flag|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/06/22/416548613/the-complicated-political-history-of-the-confederate-flag|date=June 22, 2015 |website=NPR website|access-date=September 7, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125152506/https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/06/22/416548613/the-complicated-political-history-of-the-confederate-flag|archive-date=January 25, 2022|url-status=live|language=en-US|quote=After the war ended, the symbol became a source of Southern pride and heritage, as well as a remembrance of Confederate soldiers who died in battle. But as racism and segregation gripped the nation in the century following, it became a divisive and violent emblem of the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacist groups. It was also the symbol of the States' Rights Democratic Party, or "Dixiecrats," that formed in 1948 to oppose civil-rights platforms of the Democratic Party.}} and it contributed to the flag's mid-20th-century re-popularization.{{citation|author1-last=Brumfield|author1-first=Ben|title=Confederate battle flag: Separating the myths from facts|url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/24/us/confederate-flag-myths-facts/|date=June 24, 2015|website=CNN website|access-date=July 3, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220907204517/https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/24/us/confederate-flag-myths-facts/|archive-date=September 7, 2022|url-status=live|language=en-US|quote=So, when did the flag explode into prominence? It was during the struggle for civil rights for black Americans, in the middle of the 20th century.}} According to historian John Coski, segregationists utilized Confederate symbols since both they and the Confederates had similar goals, that is, opposition to efforts to "change the South's racial status quo". As a result, Coski stated that "There could be no more fitting opposition than the Confederate battle flag.""The Confederate flag's meaning in the 1960s was logical and historically consistent with its meaning in the 1860s, as a symbol of opposition to the employment of federal authority to change the south's racial status quo. There could be no more fitting opposition than the Confederate battle flag. Although segregationists lost their battle and their cause was discredited, attitudes of white supremacy live on." {{harvnb|Coski|2005|p=294}}

In Georgia, the Confederate battle flag was reintroduced as an element of the state flag in 1956, just two years after the Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education. It was considered by many to be a protest against school desegregation.{{cite web |url=https://edhelper.com/ReadingComprehension_54_1473.html |title=Confederate Flag Controversy |work=Education Helper |first=Sharon |last=Fabian }} It was also raised at the University of Mississippi during protests against the integration of schools.{{cite web |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/6-legacy/deliberate-speed.html |title='With All Deliberate Speed' |work=Smithsonian }}

File:National-socialist-movement-knox-tn1.jpg marching at Market Square in Knoxville, Tennessee in 2010]]

While some supporters of the flag's continued use claim that it is merely a symbol of Southern heritage and ancestry, or that it represents the cultural traditions that distinguish southern states from the United States at large, white supremacist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan have continued to use the "southern cross" as a symbol.{{cite book|last1=Martinez|first1=James Michael|last2=Richardson|first2=William Donald |last3=McNinch-Su|first3=Ron|title=Confederate Symbols in the Contemporary South|date=2000|publisher=University Press of Florida|location=Gainesville, Florida |isbn=0-8130-1758-0 |page=15}}{{cite journal |last1=Cerulo |first1=Karen A. |title=Symbols and the world system: National anthems and flags |journal=Sociological Forum |volume=8 |issue=2 |year=1993 |pages=243–71 |doi=10.1007/BF01115492 |jstor=684637 |s2cid=144023960 }}{{cite news|last1=Shuster|first1=Simon|title=How the Nazi Flags in Charlottesville Look to a German|url=https://time.com/4900385/charlottesville-nazi-kkk-swastika-germany-reaction/|access-date=August 15, 2017|magazine=Time|date=August 14, 2017}} Such groups often display Confederate flags alongside others like the Nazi-era Reichskriegsflagge or the Blood Drop Cross, contributing to public perception of the Confederate flag as a hate symbol.{{cite web |url=http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article29557972.html |title=How Germany dealt with its symbols of hate |last=Schofield |first=Matthew |date=July 30, 2015 |website=McClatchy DC Bureau |access-date=August 18, 2017 |quote=It's notable that when Ku Klux Klan members recently rallied in South Carolina, they carried both the battle flag and the Nazi swastika. The two flags in recent years have been commonly seen together at white supremacist groups and gatherings.}}

Historian John Coski noted that the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the "most visible, active, and effective defender of the flag", "carried forward into the twenty-first century, virtually unchanged, the Lost Cause historical interpretations and ideological vision formulated at the turn of the twentieth."{{harvnb|Coski|2005|pp=192–93}} Coski wrote concerning "the flag wars of the late twentieth century":

{{blockquote|From the ... early 1950s, SCV officials defended the integrity of the battle flag against trivialization and against those who insisted that its display was unpatriotic or racist. SCV spokesmen reiterated the consistent argument that the South fought a legitimate war for independence, not a war to defend slavery. The ascendant "Yankee" view of history falsely vilified the South and led people to misinterpret the battle flag.{{harvnb|Coski|2005|p=193}}}}

The allied United Daughters of the Confederacy and other historical societies also used the flag as one of their symbols.

From an opposite political perspective, both the Southern Student Organizing Committee and the Young Patriots Organization (the latter among Southern migrants in Chicago), were 1960/70s New Left anti-racist movements that attempted to reappropriate the Confederate flag in their symbolism.{{Cite book|last1=Sonnie|first1=Amy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O8RvDwAAQBAJ|title=Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels, and Black Power: Community Organizing in Radical Times|last2=Tracy|first2=James|date=2011|publisher=Melville House|isbn=978-1-935554-66-0|pages=75–76, 191|language=en}}

In Petersburg, Virginia, the Ladies Memorial Association of Petersburg in 1909 had a Tiffany stained-glass Confederate flag included in a window over the door to the former Blandford Church.{{cite web|url=https://www.petersburgarea.org/attractions/blandford-church-and-cemetery|title=Blandford Church and Cemetery|author=Petersburg Area Regional Tourism Corporation|access-date=April 5, 2019|archive-date=April 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407202937/https://www.petersburgarea.org/attractions/blandford-church-and-cemetery|url-status=dead}}

At its annual meeting in 2016, the Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution calling for Southern Baptist churches to stop displaying the Confederate flag, as a "sign of solidarity of the whole Body of Christ."{{cite web|first=Steve|last=Gorman |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/southern-baptists-confederate-flag_n_57610aa5e4b0df4d586e9983 |title=U.S. Southern Baptists Formally Repudiate Confederate Flag |publisher=HuffPost|date=June 15, 2016|access-date=June 21, 2020}}

The Confederate flag is a controversial symbol for many Americans today. A 2011 Pew Research Center poll revealed that 30% of Americans had a "negative reaction" when "they saw the Confederate flag displayed".{{cite web|title=Positive Reaction to the Confederate Flag|url=http://www.pewresearch.org/daily-number/positive-reaction-to-the-confederate-flag/|website=Pew Research|date=May 18, 2011 |access-date=April 2, 2015}} According to the same poll, 9% of Americans had a positive reaction. A majority (58%) did not react. Among black Americans, 41% had a negative reaction, 10% had a positive reaction, and 45% had no reaction. A similar poll taken in 2015 revealed little change from 2011.{{cite web|url=http://www.people-press.org/2015/08/05/across-racial-lines-more-say-nation-needs-to-make-changes-to-achieve-racial-equality/8-4-2015_04a/|title=Reactions to Seeing Confederate Flag Little Changed From 2011|publisher=Pew Research Center|date=August 5, 2015|website=people-press.org|access-date=August 28, 2017}}

In an October 2013 YouGov poll, a plurality (38%) of those polled disapproved of displaying the flag in public places.{{cite web|title=Southern pride or symbol of racism?|url=https://today.yougov.com/news/2013/10/17/confederate-flag/|website=YouGov|date=October 17, 2013|access-date=April 2, 2015}} In the same poll, a plurality (44%) of those asked viewed the flag as a symbol of racism, with 24% viewing it as exclusively racist and 20% viewing it as both racist and symbolic of pride in the region. 35% viewed it exclusively as a symbol of regional pride.

In a national survey in 2015 across all races, 57% of Americans believed that the Confederate flag represented Southern pride rather than racism. A similar poll in 2000 had a nearly identical result of 59%. However, poll results from only the South yielded a completely different result: 75% of Southern whites described the flag as a symbol of pride. Conversely, 75% of Southern blacks said the flag symbolized racism.{{cite web|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/02/politics/confederate-flag-poll-racism-southern-pride/|title=Poll: Majority sees Confederate flag as Southern pride symbol, not racist|work=CNN|date=July 2, 2015}}

Another poll, administered by Economist / YouGov after racially motivated violence in Charlottesville in August 2017, showed that by a 5% margin – 43% to 38% – the Confederate Flag was viewed as a symbol of southern pride rather than racism. However, participants of color were 32% more likely than their white neighbors to see it as a sign of racism.{{cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/views-of-the-confederate-flag-have-softened-since-the-charleston-shooting_n_5994b06ee4b0acc593e4dd48|title=Views of the Confederate Flag Have Softened Since 2015 The Charleston Shooting|first=Ariel|last=Edwards-Levy|date=August 16, 2017|website=HuffPost}}

In July 2020, over a month after the George Floyd incident, Quinnipiac released a poll{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2020/07/15/majority-of-southerners-now-view-the-confederate-flag-as-a-racist-symbol-poll-finds/?sh=6491540a2c7a|title=Majority Of Southerners Now View The Confederate Flag As A Racist Symbol, Poll Finds|website=Forbes |date=July 15, 2020 }} showing that the majority of both Southerners and Americans in general now viewed the Confederate flag as a racist symbol rather than one of heritage, with 55% of Southerners associating the Confederate flag with racism compared to 36% who said the flag a symbol of Southern pride. Closely followed were Americans in general, 56% of whom said the flag was a symbol of racism, with 35% saying it was a symbol of southern pride.

This contrasted with polling{{cite web|url=https://www.newsweek.com/confederate-flag-racist-pride-statues-poll-1509946|website=Newsweek |date=June 10, 2020|title=More people see the Confederate flag as a sign of Southern pride than as a symbol of racism: Poll }} conducted Morning Consult and Politico right after the George Floyd incident, which showed nearly the opposite - 44 percent of saw the Confederate flag as symbol of Southern pride, and 36 percent saw it as racist.{{cite web|url=https://morningconsult.com/2021/07/14/confederate-statues-flag-military-bases-polling/|title=American Electorate Continues to Favor Leaving Confederate Relics in Place|date=July 14, 2021}}

File:Confederate flag made out of flowers at the Confederate Statue in Jasper, Alabama LCCN2010640149.tif

As a result of these varying perceptions, there have been several political controversies surrounding using the Confederate battle flag in Southern state flags, at sporting events, at Southern universities, and on public buildings.{{cite book|last1=Cobb|first1=James C.|title=Away Down South: A History of Southern Identity|date=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-19-508959-2|pages=290–301|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UE41aTBTI5sC&pg=PA290 |chapter=Divided by a Common Past: History and Identity in the Contemporary South}} In their study of Confederate symbols in the contemporary Southern United States, the Southern political scientists James Michael Martinez, William Donald Richardson, and Ron McNinch-Su wrote:

{{blockquote|The battle flag was never adopted by the Confederate Congress, never flew over any state capitols during the Confederacy, and was never officially used by Confederate veterans' groups. The flag probably would have been relegated to Civil War museums if it had not been resurrected by the resurgent KKK and used by Southern Dixiecrats during the 1948 presidential election.{{harvnb|Martinez|Richardson|McNinch-Su|2000|pp=284–85}}}}

Southern historian Gordon Rhea further wrote in 2011:

{{blockquote|It is no accident that Confederate symbols have been the mainstay of white supremacist organizations, from the Ku Klux Klan to the skinheads. They did not appropriate the Confederate battle flag simply because it was pretty. They picked it because it was the flag of a nation dedicated to their ideals: 'that the negro is not equal to the white man'. The Confederate flag, we are told, represents heritage, not hate. But why should we celebrate a heritage grounded in hate, a heritage whose self-avowed reason for existence was the exploitation and debasement of a sizeable segment of its population?{{cite web |url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/why-non-slaveholding-southerners-fought |last=Rhea |first=Gordon |title=Why Non-Slaveholding Southerners Fought |date=January 25, 2011 |work=American Battlefield Trust |access-date=March 21, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110321183207/http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/civil-war-overview/why-non-slaveholding.html |archive-date=March 21, 2011}}}}

Symbols of the Confederacy remain a contentious issue across the United States and their civic placement has been debated vigorously in many southern U.S. state legislatures since the early 1990s, such as the effort that led to the replacement of Georgia's flag in 2001.{{cite web|last1=Azarian|first1=Alexander J.|first2=Eden|last2=Fesshazion|title=The State Flag of Georgia: The 1956 Change In Its Historical Context|url=http://www.senate.ga.gov/sro/Documents/StudyCommRpts/00StateFlag.pdf|publisher=Georgia State Senate|access-date=June 26, 2015|date=August 2000|archive-date=December 4, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141204200939/http://www.senate.ga.gov/sro/Documents/StudyCommRpts/00StateFlag.pdf|url-status=dead}} Supporters have labeled attempts to display the flag as an exercise of free speech in response to bans in some schools and universities, but have not always been successful in court{{cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/students-confederate-flag-suit-thrown-out/ |title=Student's Confederate Flag Suit Thrown Out |work=CBS News |date=August 12, 2009 }} when attempting to use this justification.

In a 2001 essay, "Old Times There Are Best Forgotten", Emory University professor Lucas Carpenter observed that "Contemporary Confederate sympathizers want free use of Confederate symbolism because they say it represents their 'heritage.' It does, of course, but it is heritage chiefly characterized by its brutal oppression of the enslaved and their 'free' descendants. The most important thing to know about the South is that until recently it was a region ruled by slavery and apartheid."{{Cite journal |jstor = 3300447|title = Old Times There Are Best Forgotten: The Future of Confederate Symbolism in the South|last1 = Carpenter|first1 = Lucas|s2cid = 151492185|journal = Callaloo|year = 2001|volume = 24|issue = 1|pages = 32–37|doi = 10.1353/cal.2001.0014 |url=http://users.clas.ufl.edu/davidson/Jim%20Crow%20America%20Spring%202016/Jim%20Crow%20America%20course%20readings/Week%2015%20Documenting%20and%20Preserving%20Jim%20Crow%20Era%20Heritage%20Sites/Carpenter%202001%20confederate%20symbols.pdf }}

The Anti-Defamation League says the flag is "still used by non-extremists, especially in the South, as a symbol of Southern heritage or history."{{cite news |url=https://www.adl.org/hate-symbols?cat_id[146]=146|title=Hate on Display™ Hate Symbols Database |work=Anti-Defamation League |date=January 16, 2021 }}

The flag has found popularity in places far outside of the former Confederacy, especially in rural areas in the United States.{{Citation|title=How Did the Confederate Flag Come North?|url=https://www.wnyc.org/story/how-did-confederate-flag-come-north/ |date=August 17, 2017 |language=en|access-date=December 20, 2017}}

Muriel Hazel Wright's "14 flags of Oklahoma", inspired by the six flags of Texas, flew at the 1964 New York World's Fair, and were moved to a plaza at the State Capitol in 1966, with Wright's Stars-and-Bars replaced by the battle flag. A 1988 joint legislative resolution specified that the flags be restored after imminent renovations, but in 1989 governor Henry Bellmon provided only 13 flags, arguing that the legislature would have to specify which Confederate flag to fly. In 2003 the legislature agreed to move the display to the Oklahoma History Center and fly the Stars and Bars rather than the battle flag.{{multiref|

{{cite news |last1=Kemp |first1=Adam |title=Confederate flag history in Oklahoma |url=http://newsok.com/confederate-flag-history-in-oklahoma/article/5429592 |work=The Oklahoman |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627064528/http://newsok.com/confederate-flag-history-in-oklahoma/article/5429592 |archive-date=June 27, 2015 |date=June 24, 2015}}|

{{cite news |title=National Confederate Flag Debate Unlikely To Affect Oklahoma History Center Display |url=https://www.kgou.org/oklahoma-news/2015-06-24/national-confederate-flag-debate-unlikely-to-affect-oklahoma-history-center-display |access-date=January 13, 2022 |work=KGOU |date=June 24, 2015 |language=en}}|

{{cite web |title=Exterior Exhibits |url=https://www.okhistory.org/historycenter/exterior |website=Oklahoma History Center |access-date=January 13, 2022}}|

{{cite web |title=Title 73. State Capital and Capitol Building :: §73-25. Oklahoma Historical Society – Maintenance and display of flags, standards, or banners. |url=https://law.justia.com/codes/oklahoma/2014/title-73/section-73-25/ |website=2014 Oklahoma Statutes |publisher=Justia Law |access-date=January 13, 2022 |language=en}}

}}

When researching his ethnography of white Americans, Searching for Whitopia, scholar Rich Benjamin kept a notepad while traveling the Pacific Northwest. "I remember driving through swaths of Washington and Oregon and seeing a lot of Confederate flags", Benjamin explained to journalist Matthew Novak. "There are a lot of refugees from the South who seem attracted to Oregon not because they're racists, but because Oregon has a racial homogeneity and a conservatism and a gun culture that they really appreciate." The Pacific Northwest offers a cultural collision between the Confederate flag, other emblems of racism, and its new technological profit hubs.{{cite web|first=Matt|last=Novak |url=https://gizmodo.com/oregon-was-founded-as-a-racist-utopia-1539567040 |title=Oregon Was Founded As a Racist Utopia |publisher=Gizmodo.com |date=January 21, 2015 |access-date=June 18, 2016}}

File:Jefferson Davis Park 2-4 (28233582279).jpg at Jefferson Davis Park, Washington, 2018]]

Calls for the removal of Confederate flags from Jefferson Davis Park in southwestern Washington state began in 2015, after the Charleston church shooting, by Rev. Marva Edwards, the president of Vancouver's NAACP chapter.{{cite web|date=June 23, 2015|url=http://www.kptv.com/story/29392145/local-leaders-call-for-confederate-flags-flying-near-i-5-to-be-taken-down|title=Vancouver NAACP leaders call for Confederate flags flying near I-5 to be taken down|work=FOX 12 news|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150803195440/http://www.kptv.com/story/29392145/local-leaders-call-for-confederate-flags-flying-near-i-5-to-be-taken-down|archive-date=August 3, 2015}}{{cite web|last=Hewitt|first=Scott|date=June 23, 2017|url=http://www.columbian.com/news/2015/jun/22/ridgefield-confederate-flag-message-black-leader/|title=Ridgefield Confederate flag 'sends a message,' black leader says|work=The Columbian|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170819055236/http://www.columbian.com/news/2015/jun/22/ridgefield-confederate-flag-message-black-leader/|archive-date=August 19, 2017}} Even though the markers and flags are located on private property, they are and were intended to be highly visible (to all cars traveling Interstate 5). Their visibility, and events in other parts of the nation regarding Confederate memorials, still make these symbols a local focus of strong emotions, especially in the aftermath of the white nationalist Unite the Right rally August 11–12, 2017.{{cite web|last=Wilson|first=Jamie|date=August 16, 2015|url=http://www.kptv.com/story/36153519/some-calling-for-removal-of-confederate-flag-at-ridgefield-park|title=Some calling for removal of Confederate flag at Ridgefield park|work=Fox12 News|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107055552/http://www.kptv.com/story/36153519/some-calling-for-removal-of-confederate-flag-at-ridgefield-park|archive-date=November 7, 2017}}{{cite web|last=Westneat|first=Danny|date=June 24, 2015|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/confederate-flag-is-flying-here-too-along-i-5/|title=Confederate flag is flying here, too, along I-5|work=The Seattle Times|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170527180617/http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/confederate-flag-is-flying-here-too-along-i-5/|archive-date=May 27, 2017}}

Eighteen flags fly at Civic Center Plaza in front of the San Francisco City Hall, each representing important events in United States history.{{cite news |last1=Cline |first1=Annika |title=Why is There a Texas Flag in Front of City Hall? |url=https://www.kqed.org/news/11787663/why-is-there-a-texas-flag-in-front-of-city-hall |access-date=June 28, 2020 |work=Bay Curious podcast, KQED |date=November 21, 2019}} These include several related to the American Revolution, along with the original flags of the Republic of California and the Republic of Texas. It also included the Confederate flag, but it was removed in 1984 as a result of protests by members of the Spartacist League, who repeatedly tore down the flag.{{cite web |last1=MacGuill |first1=Dan |title=Did Dianne Feinstein Repeatedly Reinstall a Confederate Battle Flag in San Francisco? |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/dianne-feinstein-confederate-flag/ |website=Snopes|access-date=February 17, 2022 |date=February 27, 2019}}

File:02019 1209 (2) Nationalist attack on an LGBT equality march in Rzeszów.jpg in Rzeszów, Poland, in 2019]]

The Confederate battle flag is sometimes displayed in Europe at far-right group gatherings. The flag is popular with neo-Nazis, particularly in Germany, where displaying Nazi symbols is a crime.{{cite web |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/confederate-flag-europe-trump-poland_n_5968a317e4b017418626ab5e |title=This Is Why You're Seeing The Confederate Flag Across Europe |last=Mathias |first=Christopher |date=July 14, 2017 |website=HuffPost|access-date=June 21, 2020|quote=As President Donald Trump spoke last week in Warsaw, Poland, cable news cameras panned across the raucous crowd bused in by the country's right-wing government to cheer him on...Amid the waving red-and-white Polish flags, a lone man ― over 4,000 miles from the U.S. South, from the land of Jim Crow, the Ku Klux Klan and slavery ― could be seen holding the Confederate flag.}}

The Washington Post reporter Adam Taylor, in a 2015 article about the use of Confederate flags in Italy, explained that the first time Napoli S.S.C. supporters were noticed flying the flag abroad was during their quarterfinal match of the UEFA Champions League against English side Chelsea in 2012. He quoted an explanation given several years before to historian Don Harrison Doyle and reported in Divided Nations (2002) by a professor of American Literature in Naples: "We too are a defeated people. Once we were a rich and independent country, and then they came from the North and conquered us and took our wealth and power away to Rome."{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/06/22/why-do-italian-soccer-fans-and-other-foreigners-fly-the-confederate-flag/|title=Why do Italian soccer fans and other foreigners fly the Confederate flag? |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=June 22, 2015 |access-date=March 8, 2020}}

Writer Vladimiro Bottone, in an article of July 15, 2004{{Cite web|date=July 4, 2015|title=I nuovi sudisti? Sono gli ultras|url=http://corrieredelmezzogiorno.corriere.it/napoli/arte_e_cultura/15_luglio_04/i-nuovi-sudisti-sono-ultras-3e1b242a-226d-11e5-b800-b98661fc42c1.shtml|access-date=April 12, 2021|website=Corriere della Sera|language=it}} on Naples newspaper Corriere del Mezzogiorno, adds that stadium is the "place [where] the first virulent and explicit opposition between North and South of the post-war period was made visible in a mass dimension" [...]. For Napoli supporters, [...] "Napoli is what it could have been if the robbery of Savoy sneaky team (aiming at Juventus, main team of Turin, town of the Savoy, the Italian Royal family, ndr) was not able to perpetrate its damage, to the point of colonizing the Belpaese football with the violence of fraud, thus distorting the development of what should be a fair competition between territories."

{{More citations needed section|date=April 2021}}

:Media that does not reference the civil war in a historical context (such as media set in the time period of the civil war, museum displays, or depictions of reenactments).

The 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit, set in the Southern United States, featured a 1977 Pontiac Trans Am displaying the Georgia state flag on the front license plate of the vehicle; the 1956-2001 Georgia state flag prominently featured the Confederate battle flag.

The 1979–1985 American television series The Dukes of Hazzard, set in a fictional Georgia county, featured the General Lee stock car with the flag prominently painted over its roof throughout the series' run.

The 1980 film Battle Beyond the Stars shows a spaceship used to haul freight piloted by a man calling himself Cowboy. The space truck sports a rectangular variant of the Mobile Depot flag.{{cite AV media | date=1980 | title=Battle Beyond the Stars | medium=Motion picture | time=26:12}}

The 1982 film Megaforce is about a fictional high-tech international military organization where each member wears the flag of their home county on the sleeve of their Megaforce uniform. The character Dallas wears a confederate patch on his shoulder, the American flag is seen among the flags that other characters wear.{{cite AV media | date=1982 | title=Megaforce | medium=Motion picture | time=25:50}}

The music video for Cyndi Laupers' 1984 song "She Bop" features: a man on a motorcycle wearing a confederate patch on his jacket, as the cute bad boy. {{cite AV media | people=Cyndi Lauper (artist), Edd Griles (director) | date=1984 | title=She Bop| type=Music Video}}

The 1985 film The Breakfast Club portrays the 1956 Georgia state flag which incorporates the battle flag design.

Kelly (in the 1987–1997 television sitcom Married... with Children) wears the rebel flag as one of many patches on her jacket in early episodes of the show.

The 1989 film Shag has a character wearing a flag bikini.{{cite web |last1=Lauren |first1=Vinopal |title=The Confederate Flag Bikini Rises Again |url=https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/the-confederate-flag-bikini-rises-again |website=MEL Magazine |date=July 18, 2020}}

Thelma (in the 1991 film Thelma & Louise) wears a shirt with this flag as part of a larger motif.

The 2005 film The Dukes of Hazzard and its 2007 prequel The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning both feature the General Lee car from the TV series complete with Confederate flag paint job.{{cite web |last1=Gina |first1=Vivinetto |title='Dukes of Hazzard' stars respond to Confederate flag controversy |url=https://www.today.com/popculture/dukes-hazzard-stars-respond-confederate-flag-controversy-t186363 |website=TODAY.com |date=July 9, 2020 |publisher=Today |access-date=July 9, 2020 |language=en}}

The Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd has made heavy use of the flag. In 2012, it tried to distance itself from the flag because of its divisive history as a symbol of racism. In an interview with CNN, Gary Rossington stated, "We just had it in the beginning because we're Southern and that was our image back in the '70s and late '60s. But I think people through the years, people like the KKK and the skinheads...kidnapped the Dixie rebel flag, the Southern tradition and the heritage of the soldiers, you know, that's what it was about. We didn't want that to go to our fans or show the image like we agreed with any of the race stuff or any of the bad things."{{cite web |url=http://metronews.ca/news/ottawa/1424931/bluesfest-responds-to-social-media-criticism-after-man-wears-confederate-flag-shorts-at-festival/ |title=Bluesfest responds to social media criticism after man wears confederate flag shorts at festival |first=Haley |last=Ritchie |work=Metronews.ca |date=July 13, 2015 |access-date=June 18, 2016 |archive-date=July 15, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150715092816/http://metronews.ca/news/ottawa/1424931/bluesfest-responds-to-social-media-criticism-after-man-wears-confederate-flag-shorts-at-festival/ |url-status=dead }} Two weeks later, after backlash from fans, they resumed using it, with Rossington stating on the band's website, "We know what the Dixie flag represents and its heritage; the Civil War was fought over States' rights."{{cite web |first=Josh |last=Grossberg |url=https://www.eonline.com/news/348438/lynyrd-skynyrd-sticking-with-confederate-flag-after-all |title=Lynyrd Skynyrd Sticking With Confederate Flag After All|publisher=E! News |date=September 24, 2012 |access-date=June 18, 2016}}

Until July 2015, the metal band Pantera sold numerous items that featured the flag in its official online store.{{cite web |url= http://www.metalinjection.net/shocking-revelations/pantera-remove-confederate-flag-merch-even-as-vinnie-paul-says-the-controversy-is-a-big-knee-jerk-reaction |title=Pantera Remove Confederate Flag Merch Even As Vinnie PaulL Says The Controversy Is 'A Big Knee-Jerk Reaction' |first=Robert |last=Pasbani |date=July 16, 2015 |access-date=November 6, 2015}} Founding member Dimebag Darrell, who was shot and killed in 2004, used a Dean ML guitar customized with the flag covering the guitar's body. As of July 2015, singer Phil Anselmo distanced himself from using the flag.{{cite web|url=http://loudwire.com/philip-anselmo-confederate-flag-2015-wouldnt-want-anything-to-do-with-it/|title=Philip Anselmo on Using Confederate Flag in 2015: 'I Wouldn't Want Anything to F—ing Do With It' |first=Graham |last=Hartmann |website=Loudwire |date=July 13, 2015 |access-date=November 6, 2015}}

The hip-hop group Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz used the flag (burning) on the cover of its 2001 album Put Yo Hood Up, as well as in the music video for its single "Bia' Bia'".{{Cite news |url=https://qz.com/441755/rappers-have-reappropriated-the-confederate-flag-as-political-art/ |title=Rappers have reappropriated the confederate flag as political art |last=Fisher |first=Gabriel |work=Quartz |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702105814/http://qz.com/441755/rappers-have-reappropriated-the-confederate-flag-as-political-art/ |date=1 July 2015 |access-date=July 5, 2018 |archive-date=July 2, 2015 |language=en-US}}

The rockabilly musician Ray Campi played an upright bass with a customized image of the flag on the back of the instrument. At some point prior to 2009, he changed the image to the Texan flag.{{cite web|url=http://www.artofslapbass.com/interview-with-ray-campi/ |title=Interview with Ray Campi |publisher=Art of Slap Bass |date=September 21, 2009 |access-date=March 8, 2020}}

The Southern rock musician Tom Petty used the Confederate flag in his 1985 Southern Accents tour, tying its imagery to the lead character in his song "Rebels". In 2015, he disclaimed his use of the flag as "downright stupid," saying "It's like how a swastika looks to a Jewish person."{{Cite magazine |last=Greene |first=Andy |date=July 14, 2015 |title=Tom Petty on Past Confederate Flag Use: 'It Was Downright Stupid' |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/tom-petty-on-past-confederate-flag-use-it-was-downright-stupid-177619/ |access-date=June 28, 2020 |magazine=Rolling Stone}}

Despite hailing from Michigan, the singer Kid Rock prominently displayed the Confederate flag on his tours starting with his 2001 album Cocky, but by 2011, he had quietly abandoned his use of the flag.{{Cite web |last=Roskopp |first=Jack |date=August 15, 2017 |title=Kid Rock and the Confederate flag: a history |url=https://www.metrotimes.com/city-slang/archives/2017/08/15/kid-rock-and-the-confederate-flag-a-history |access-date=June 28, 2020 |website=Detroit Metro Times |archive-date=June 30, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630153830/https://www.metrotimes.com/city-slang/archives/2017/08/15/kid-rock-and-the-confederate-flag-a-history |url-status=dead }}

The instrumental guitarist Duane Eddy, along with his backing band, "The Rebels", used the Confederate flag and symbolism during his early career.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/embed/K8uZutr1avs|title=Duane Eddy "Rebel Rouser"|website=YouTube}}

Billy Idol wore clothing with the flag until 1990. That year he was hospitalized, and vowed to never wear it again, after a black employee tending to him explained his feelings on the flag.{{cite tweet |author=Billy Idol |user=BillyIdol |number=613393004045451264 |title=A black man washed my hair in hospital '90 & explained his feelings on seeing the Confederate flag, I promised him I would never wear it. |date=23 June 2015 |access-date=7 November 2023 }}{{cite tweet |author=Billy Idol |user=BillyIdol |number=613374485195018240 |title=I never wear the Confederate battle flag ever since 1990 as I realized it symbolizes oppression to certain Americans... |date=23 June 2015 |access-date=7 November 2023 }}

When performing live prior to their initial breakup, American proto-punk group MC5 would often drape their amplifiers with flags, including the Confederate flag.https://gloriousnoise.com/2017/watch-the-mc5-kick-out-the-jams-in-germany-in-1972 This was likely done to give off a rebellious tone rather than glorification of the Confederacy, especially considering their vocal advocacy for racial equality as well as dedicated support for the White Panther Party.https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/mc5-the-white-panther-party-kicking-out-jams/ Furthermore, longtime band photographer Leni Sinclair publicly maintained in 2015 that “they were not racist, they were ignorant” in regards to the matter.https://x.com/brianboyer/status/620314606553182208

In December 2020, Twitch announced a new policy towards harassment and hateful content, to take effect on January 22, 2021, aimed to better protect marginalized users of the service. While the new policy is more strict, Twitch said this also includes a larger sliding scale of remedies or punishments to better deal with edge cases, such as temporarily blocking one's channel for a short time rather than a full ban. The new policy includes a ban on imagery containing the Confederate flag.{{cite web | url = https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/9/22165342/twitch-hateful-conduct-harassment-policy-update | title = Twitch overhauls its rules around harassment and hateful conduct | first = Bijan | last = Stephen | date = December 9, 2020 | access-date = December 9, 2020 | work=The Verge}}

On February 16, 2014, University of Mississippi campus police discovered the James Meredith memorial statue, erected in October 2006, surrounded with pre-2003 Georgia State Flags (containing the Confederate Flag) and a rope tied into a noose around the neck of the statue. Meredith, an alumnus of the University of Mississippi, was, in October 1962, the first African American to attend the school.{{cite news |last1=Berman |first1=Mark |title=FBI, police investigating noose found on James Meredith statue at Ole Miss |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/02/19/fbi-police-investigating-noose-found-on-james-meredith-statue-at-ole-miss/ |date=February 19, 2014 |access-date=June 16, 2019 |newspaper=The Washington Post}} The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Oxford, Mississippi Police Department conducted an investigation shortly after the event which led to the arrest of Graeme Phillip Harris, a former freshman at the university. Harris pleaded guilty in June 2015 to a misdemeanor for using threat of force to intimidate African-American students and employees. U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills sentenced Harris to six months in prison, followed by twelve months of supervision after release.{{cite news |url=https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/09/17/ex-ole-miss-student-sentenced-noose-statue/72376068/ |date=2015-09-17 |access-date=7 November 2023 |title=Ex-Ole Miss student sentenced for noose on statue |agency=The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger |work=USA Today}} A second student, Austin Reed Edenfield, 21, was sentenced to a year of probation in addition to 50 hours of community service.{{cite news |url=https://eu.clarionledger.com/story/news/2016/07/22/2nd-ex-ole-miss-student-sentenced-statue-vandalism/87433456/ |date=2016-07-22 |access-date=7 November 2023 |title=2nd ex-Ole Miss student sentenced in statue vandalism|agency=The Clarion-Ledger}} A third student has yet to be charged.{{cite news |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/2016/03/24/ex-university-of-mississippi-student-admits-to-placing-noose-on-statue-of-james-meredith-the-schools-first-black-student/ |title=Ex-University of Mississippi student admits to placing noose on statue of James Meredith, the school's first black student |work=New York Daily News }}

On May 19, 2016, the United States House of Representatives voted to ban the display of Confederate flags on flagpoles at Veterans Administration cemeteries, by a 265–159 vote. The ban was contained in an amendment (House Amendment 592, 114th Congress) to House bill 2822, an appropriations bill.{{cite web |url=https://www.congress.gov/amendment/114th-congress/house-amendment/592/text |title=H.Amdt.592 to H.R.2822 |access-date=May 20, 2016 |work=114th United States Congress |via=congress.gov }} The author of the amendment was California congressman Jared Huffman, who stated that the flag represented "racism, slavery and division."{{cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/confederate-flag-furor/house-would-ban-confederate-flags-va-cemetery-flagpoles-n576906|title=House Votes to Ban Confederate Flags on VA Cemetery Flagpoles |author= |date=May 19, 2016 |website=nbcnews.com |publisher=NBC News |access-date=May 19, 2016 |quote= The House voted Thursday to ban the display of the Confederate flag on flagpoles at Veterans Administration cemeteries. The 265–159 vote would block (anyone) from flying the Confederate Battle Flag over mass graves, even on days that flag displays are permitted.}}{{cite web |url=https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/IN10313.pdf |title=Display of the Confederate Flag at Federal Cemeteries in the United States. |work=CRS Insight |publisher=Congressional Research Service |date=August 31, 2016 |via=fas.org |access-date=7 November 2023 }}

In June 2016, Republicans in Congress attempted to attach an amendment to a bill funding the fight against the Zika virus epidemic that would have reversed the flag ban. It was just one provision of several that Republicans had attached, including an amendment cutting Planned Parenthood funding. Senate Democrats blocked the bill through filibuster.{{Cite news|url=http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/confederate-flag-zika-funding|title=GOP Tries To Use Zika Bill To Undo Cemetery Confederate Flag Ban|publisher=Talking Points Memo|first=Tierney|last=Sneed|date=June 28, 2016|access-date=June 29, 2016}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/us/politics/congress-zika-funding.html |title=Zika Bill Is Blocked by Senate Democrats Upset Over Provisions |work=The New York Times |date=June 28, 2016 |access-date=July 1, 2016 |first=David M. |last=Herszenhorn }}

In August 2017, in response to the controversial Unite the Right rally that was held in Charlottesville, the park Six Flags Over Texas replaced its six flags (which had included the first Confederate flag) with six American flags. A representative of the park told KXAS-TV, "We always choose to focus on celebrating the things that unite us versus those that divide us. As such, we have changed the flag displays in our park to feature American flags."{{cite news |last1=Morris |first1=David Z. |title=Six Flags Pulls Down Confederate Flags |url=https://fortune.com/2017/08/18/six-flags-confederate-flags/ |access-date=August 19, 2017 |work=Fortune |date=August 18, 2017}}

On September 27, 2017, ten Confederate flag posters bearing chunks of cotton were found on American University campus.

The date coincided with the presentation by historian Ibram Kendi to introduce the Anti-racist Research and Policy Center.

On December 15, 2020, the State of New York passed a law "to prohibit the sale or display of hate symbols in public buildings and public grounds including state and local fairs, unless serving an educational or historical purpose." The law defines hate symbols to "include, but not be limited to, symbols of white supremacy, Neo-Nazi ideology or the Battle Flag of the Confederacy".{{cite web

| url =https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2019/s8298/amendment/b

| title =Senate Bill S8298B signed by governor: An act to amend the public buildings law and the agriculture and markets law, in relation to prohibiting the state of New York from selling or displaying symbols of hate

| date =December 15, 2020

| work =New York State Senate

| access-date = January 8, 2021

| quote =Purpose or general idea of the law: To prohibit the State of New York from selling or displaying symbols of hate.}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/confederate-flag-banned-being-sold-or-displayed-state-property-new-n1251726 |title=Confederate flag banned from being sold or displayed on state property in New York |agency=Associated Press |website=NBC News |date=December 15, 2020 |access-date =January 8, 2021 |quote=The governor said the bill "will help safeguard New Yorkers from the fear-instilling effects of these symbols.}}{{cite web

| url =https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/17/us/confederate-flag-ban-new-york-trnd/index.html

| title =New York bans display of Confederate flag and other hate symbols on state grounds

| last =Asmelash

| first =Leah

| date = December 17, 2020

| website =www.cnn.com

| publisher=CNN

| access-date =January 8, 2021

| quote =New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the law "will help safeguard New Yorkers from the fear-instilling effects of these abhorrent symbols." }}

During the January 6 United States Capitol attack, several rioters carried Confederate battle flags.{{cite news |first=Eliott C. |last=McLaughlin |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/07/us/capitol-confederate-flag-fort-stevens/index.html |title=Before Wednesday, insurgents waving Confederate flags hadn't been within 6 miles of the US Capitol |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108020738/https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/07/us/capitol-confederate-flag-fort-stevens/index.html |archive-date=January 8, 2021 |publisher=CNN |date=January 7, 2021 }} This was the first time in U.S. history where the Confederate flag entered the Capitol building in an act of insurrection.{{cite news |last1=Cramer |first1=Maria |title=Confederate Battle Flag in the Capitol: A 'Jarring' First in U.S. History |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/us/politics/confederate-flag-capitol.html |access-date=January 9, 2021 |work=The New York Times |quote=The emblem has appeared in the Capitol before. ... But Wednesday was the first time that someone had managed to bring the flag into the building as an act of insurrection, according to historians. |date=January 9, 2021 |archive-date=January 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109120449/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/us/politics/confederate-flag-capitol.html |url-status=dead }}

In the years after the end of the American Civil War, many former slave states that were members of the Confederacy adopted new state flags during the war. In their new flags' designs, motifs were used in the Confederacy's flags, such as the St. Andrew's cross. In the case of Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama these new state flags were adopted around the same time that new Jim Crow segregation laws were being enacted. These laws, combined with poll taxes, literacy tests, and extrajudicial violence such as lynchings, disenfranchised African American voters for the next ninety years.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zs0VJTbNwfAC&pg=PA80|title=The Confederate Battle Flag: America's Most Embattled Emblem|date=2005|first=John M.|last=Coski|access-date=March 8, 2016|pages=80–81|location=United States of America|publisher=First Harvard University Press|isbn=0-674-01983-0|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309032406/https://books.google.com/books?id=zs0VJTbNwfAC&pg=PA80#v=onepage&q&f=falsee|archive-date=March 9, 2016}} According to historian John M. Coski:

{{Blockquote|The flag changes in Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida coincided with the passage of formal Jim Crow segregation laws throughout the South. Four years before Mississippi incorporated a Confederate battle flag into its state flag, its constitutional convention passed pioneering provisions to 'reform' politics by effectively disenfranchising most African Americans.}}

{{Main|Flag of Alabama}}

The current Flag of Alabama (the second in Alabama state history) was adopted by Act 383 of the Alabama state legislature on February 16, 1895:{{cite web |url=http://www.archives.state.al.us/emblems/st_flag.html |title=Official Symbols and Emblems of Alabama: State Flag of Alabama |publisher=Alabama Department of Archives & History |access-date=February 2, 2021 |archive-date=January 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190106215755/http://www.archives.state.al.us/emblems/st_flag.html%20 |url-status=dead }}

{{blockquote|The flag of the State of Alabama shall be a crimson cross of St. Andrew on a field of white. The bars forming the cross shall be not less than six inches broad, and must extend diagonally across the flag from side to side. – (Code 1896, §3751; Code 1907, §2058; Code 1923, §2995; Code 1940, T. 55, §5.)}}

An article in the October 1917 National Geographic magazine posited that "the purpose in inacting the state flag law was to preserve in permanent form some of the distinctive features of the Confederate Battle Flag."{{cite journal

|first1=Byron

|last1=McCandless

|first2=Gilbert

|last2=Grosvenor

|title=Our State Flags

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=22s9AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA281

|journal=National Geographic Magazine

|volume=32 |issue=4

|pages=281–420, 332

|date=October 1917

|oclc=4947058

|access-date=February 2, 2021}}

{{Main|Flag of Arkansas}}

The flag of Arkansas contains four blue stars within a diamond representing the four countries that historically controlled the territory; one of these stars represents the Confederate States of America.{{cite web|title=The Story of the Arkansas Flag|url=http://www.sos.arkansas.gov/educational/students/Documents/The_Story_of_the_Arkansas_Flag.pdf|access-date=August 4, 2017|archive-date=December 15, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215023945/http://www.sos.arkansas.gov/educational/students/Documents/The_Story_of_the_Arkansas_Flag.pdf|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|last1=Ware|first1=David|title=Official State Flag|url=http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=3151|website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas|publisher=Central Arkansas Library System|access-date=August 4, 2017}} The design of the border around the white diamond evokes the saltire found on the Confederate battle flag.Ark. Code Ann. (1987), Section 1–4–101; cited in B.F. Shearer and B.S. Shearer (2002), State Names, Seals, Flags, and Symbols, Greenwood Press, p. 54 In 2019, the Arkansas legislature did not approve a bill that would have redefined the star as referring to Native Americans.{{cite news|title=Arkansas legislators rejected a proposal to change the meaning of a star on the state flag that honors the Confederacy|first=Ryan|last=Prior|newspaper=CNN|date=February 28, 2019|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/28/us/arkansas-state-flag-proposal-trnd/index.html}}

{{Main|Flag of Florida}}

The current flag of Florida, adopted by popular referendum in 1900, with minor changes in 1985, contains the Cross of Burgundy. It is believed that the Cross was added in memory of, and showing support for, the Confederacy.{{cite news|last1=Williams|first1=Dave|title=Flag debate spreading across Deep South|url=http://savannahnow.com/stories/091700/LOCflaginsight.shtml#.VaunxRNVhBd|access-date=July 19, 2015|work=Savannah Morning News|date=September 17, 2000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150722185513/http://savannahnow.com/stories/091700/LOCflaginsight.shtml#.VaunxRNVhBd|archive-date=July 22, 2015|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|last1=Ingraham|first1=Christopher|title=How the Confederacy lives on in the flags of seven Southern states|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/06/21/how-the-confederacy-lives-on-in-the-flags-of-seven-southern-states/|access-date=July 19, 2015|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=June 21, 2015}} The addition of the Cross was proposed by Governor Francis P. Fleming, a former Confederate soldier, who was strongly committed to racial segregation. However, some historians believe the flag dates back to the original flag the Spanish flew over Florida in the 16th century.{{cite web |url=https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article25444405.html |title=Historians differ on whether Florida flag echoes Confederate banner |last=Garvin |first=Glenna |website=Miami Herald |date=June 24, 2015 |access-date=June 8, 2020 }}

{{Main|Flag of Georgia (U.S. state)}}

{{See also|Flaggers (movement)#Georgia origin of flaggers}}

In 1956 the Georgian state flag was redesigned to incorporate the Confederate battle flag. Following protests over this aspect of the design in the 1990s by the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and other groups, efforts began in the Georgia General Assembly to remove the battle flag from the state flag's design. These efforts succeeded in January 2001 when Georgia governor Roy Barnes introduced a design that, though continuing to depict the Battle Flag, significantly reduced its prominence.

The following year, amidst dwindling demands for the return of the 1956 design ("Battle Flag" version) and lesser opposing demands for the continued use of the new "Barnes'" design, the Georgia General Assembly redesigned the flag yet again; it adopted a "compromise" design using the 13-star First National Flag of the Confederacy (the "Stars and Bars"), combined with a simplified version of Georgia's state seal placed within the circle of 13 stars on the flag's canton.

The city flag of Trenton, Georgia, United States, was adopted in 2001 as a protest following the change of the state flag of Georgia. The flag has been controversial because it incorporates the Confederate Battle Flag.{{Cite web|url=https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2015/jun/26/confederate-banner-still-flies-trenton/311614/|title=Confederate banner still flying high in Trenton, Ga.|website=timesfreepress.com|date=June 26, 2015 |access-date=July 1, 2020|archive-date=July 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200701173654/https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2015/jun/26/confederate-banner-still-flies-trenton/311614/|url-status=live}}

File:Flags of the State of Georgia (1920–2003).svg

{{Main|Flag of Mississippi}}

File:Laurel City Hall.jpg in 2012]]

The Confederate battle flag became a part of the flag of Mississippi in 1894. In 1906, the flag statutes were omitted by error from the state's new legal code, leaving Mississippi without an official flag. The omission was not discovered until 1993 when a lawsuit filed by the NAACP regarding the flag was being reviewed by the Supreme Court of Mississippi. In 2000, Governor Ronnie Musgrove issued an executive order making the flag official, which it did in February 2001. After continued controversy, the decision was turned over to citizens of the state, who, on April 17, 2001, voted 2:1 to keep the Confederate Battle Flag a part of the current state flag.{{cite news |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/04/17/mississippi.flag.02 |title=Mississippi votes 2–1 to keep existing flag |work=CNN|date=April 17, 2001 |access-date=July 1, 2015 |archive-date=April 1, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090401122056/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/04/17/mississippi.flag.02/ |url-status=dead }}

Following the Charleston church shooting in June 2015 and subsequent discussion of the flying of the Confederate Battle Flag at the South Carolina State House, Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives Philip Gunn publicly called for the removal of the Confederate Battle Flag from the flag of Mississippi.{{cite news|url=http://bigstory.ap.org/article/935a043e4fd34a8dbc0bf7bb06622562/mississippi-tennessee-debate-future-confederate-symbols|title=Top lawmaker: Remove Confederate sign from Mississippi flag|first1=Emily|last1=Wagster Pettus|first2=Claire|last2=Galofaro|agency=Associated Press|date=June 22, 2015|access-date=June 23, 2015|archive-date=June 25, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150625145716/http://bigstory.ap.org/article/935a043e4fd34a8dbc0bf7bb06622562/mississippi-tennessee-debate-future-confederate-symbols|url-status=dead}}

Renewed focus on race relations following the murder of George Floyd prompted the removal of many Confederate symbols throughout the country,{{cite journal |last1=Valla |first1=Hayley |title=Uncle Sam's Dilemma: Whether Prioritizing Confederate Memorials over National Sentiment Is a Monumental Mistake |journal=Touro Law Review |date=1 January 2021 |volume=37 |issue=2 |page=24 |url=https://digitalcommons.tourolaw.edu/lawreview/vol37/iss2/21 |issn=8756-7326}} and in Mississippi, legislators attempted to revive a bill that would modify the state flag to eliminate its depiction of the battle flag.{{cite news|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mississippi-state-flag-change-remove-confederate-battle-emblem/|title=A fight grows in Mississippi over the state flag's Confederate emblem|first=Kate|last=Smith|work=CBS News|date=June 16, 2020|access-date=June 17, 2020|archive-date=March 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308072250/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mississippi-state-flag-change-remove-confederate-battle-emblem/|url-status=dead}} On June 27, 2020, the Mississippi Legislature voted to suspend rules in order to debate over and vote on a bill to address the flag issue.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/27/us/mississippi-flag-confederate-legislature.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage|work=The New York Times|date=June 27, 2020|author=Rick Rojas|title=Mississippi Lawmakers Push Ahead With Proposal to Take Down State Flag}} On June 28, both houses passed a bill to abolish the state flag, remove the flag from public institutions within 15 days of its enactment, and create a nine-member commission to design a replacement that would exclude the Confederate battle flag and include the motto "In God We Trust".{{Cite web|first=Paul |last=LeBlanc|title=Mississippi state legislature passes bill to remove Confederate symbol from state flag in historic vote|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/28/politics/mississippi-flag-confederate-emblem/index.html|access-date=June 29, 2020|website=CNN|date=June 28, 2020}}{{cite web|last1=Pettus|first1=Emily|date=June 28, 2020|title=Look away, Dixie: Mississippi to lose rebel emblem from flag|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/mississippi-set-remove-confederate-emblem-flag-71496729|access-date=June 29, 2020|publisher=ABC News}}{{Cite web|last=Budryk|first=Zack|date=June 28, 2020|title=Mississippi House passes bill to take Confederate symbol off state flag|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/504942-mississippi-house-passes-bill-to-take-confederate-symbol-off-state-flag/|access-date=June 29, 2020|website=The Hill}}{{Cite web|url=http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2020/pdf/history/HB/HB1796.xml|title=Mississippi Legislature 2020 Regular Session House Bill 1796}} Governor Tate Reeves signed the bill into law on {{dts|2020.06.30}}.{{Cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcdc5tOZbc8|title=MPB LIVE: Governor Tate Reeves signs bill removing state flag|via=YouTube}}

{{main|Flag of North Carolina}}

The first flag of North Carolina, which was adopted in 1861, had two ribbons. On one of the ribbons is emblazoned "May 20th, 1775". The other one had the inscription "May 20, 1861".{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-North-Carolina |first=Whitney |last=Smith |date=July 26, 2011 |title=Flag of North Carolina |encyclopedia=Britannica }}

The new flag, which was adopted in 1885, has a modified design with other colors, and the date of the North Carolina's secession was replaced by "April 12, 1776".{{cite web |url=http://worldpopulationreview.com/state-flags/north-carolina/ |title=North Carolina Flag |work=World Population Review }}{{cite web |url=https://statesymbolsusa.org/symbol-official-item/north-carolina/state-flag/flag-north-carolina |title=Flag of North Carolina |website=state symbols USA |date=September 11, 2014 }}

{{Main|Flag of Tennessee}}

The current Flag of Tennessee was designed by Colonel Lee Roy Reeves, an attorney and officer of the Tennessee National Guard.{{cite web |last1=Van West |first1=Carroll |title=Lee Roy Reeves |url=https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/lee-roy-reeves/ |website=Tennessee Encyclopedia |access-date=March 25, 2019}} The flag was officially adopted in 1905, replacing the original post-Civil War state flag. Although the symbolism is reported as referencing only the State of Tennessee, its color scheme, symbolism, and design evoke the Confederacy's flags. The red field and blue charge with white fimbriation evoke the Confederate Battle Flag. The placement of the vertical bar at the fly of the field evokes the Third National Flag of the Confederacy.{{cite journal |last1=Knowlton |first1=Steven A. |title=Evocation and Figurative Thought in Tennessee Flag Culture |journal=Raven |date=2013 |volume=20 |pages=23–54 |url=https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/steven.a.knowlton/files/evocation_and_figurative_thought.pdf |access-date=March 25, 2019 |archive-date=November 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111230301/https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/steven.a.knowlton/files/evocation_and_figurative_thought.pdf |url-status=dead }} The language the designer used to describe the three central stars ('the indissoluble trinity', albeit regarding the three 'Grand Divisions of Tennessee') and their central placement evokes the cross of St. Andrew of the Confederate Battle Flag. Vexillologist Steven A. Knowlton, an assistant professor and collection development librarian of the University Libraries of the University of Memphis,{{cite web |title=Steven A. Knowlton |url=https://umwa.memphis.edu/fcv/viewprofile.php?uuid=sknwlton |website=The University of Memphis Faculty and Staff Profiles |access-date=March 25, 2019}} believes the relationship of the current Tennessee State Flag and the flags of the Confederacy is one of "pragmatic unity" with a "deeper symbolic recognition" linking it to the Confederacy. While there is no explicit evidence of any intention on the part of the designer to create a link, Knowlton believes many Tennesseans have perceived and continue to perceive a link, given the cultural and historical context.{{cite news|url=https://www.academia.edu/20778926|title=Pragmatic Unity and Visual Synecdoche in Tennessee Flag Culture|last1=Knowlton|first1=Steven|date=October 6, 2012|access-date=March 25, 2019}} Christopher Ingraham of the Brookings Institution, citing Professor Knowlton, considers this a case of "plausible deniability" and that the flag is one of seven state flags visually continuing the legacy of the Confederacy.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/21/how-the-confederacy-lives-on-in-the-flags-of-seven-southern-states/|title=How the Confederacy lives on in the flags of seven Southern states|last1=Ingraham|first1=Christopher|date=June 21, 2015|access-date=March 25, 2019}}

Stone Mountain, Georgia, is a "monument to the Confederacy"{{cite news

|title=Birth of an idea: Where the King monument on Stone Mountain came from

|first=Ernie

|last=Suggs

|newspaper=Atlanta Journal-Constitution

|date=January 15, 2017

|url=https://www.myajc.com/news/local/birth-idea-where-the-king-monument-stone-mountain-came-from/HFpAfVTvdwvTXR4Td6UjHP/#}} that was paid for and is owned by the state of Georgia. Stone Mountain Park opened 100 years to the day after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.{{cite magazine

|title=Stone Mountain. A Monumental Dilemma

|first=Debra

|last=McKinney

|pages=18–22

|magazine=Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report

|date=Spring 2018

|issue=164}} It is the most visited destination in the state of Georgia.

Four flags of the Confederacy are flown at Stone Mountain.{{cite news

|title=Flag causes flap at Stone Mountain

|first=Mark

|last=Davis

|newspaper=Atlanta Journal-Constitution

|date=July 2, 2015

|access-date=May 25, 2018

|url=https://www.myajc.com/news/flag-causes-flap-stone-mountain/gzL67vy49V0RZU2yajcnzN/}} In addition, the Stone Mountain Memorial Lawn "contains...thirteen terraces — one for each Confederate state.... Each terrace flies the flag that the state flew as member of the Confederacy."{{cite news

|title=Photos: Confederate memorials in metro Atlanta

|newspaper=Atlanta Journal-Constitution

|first=Pete

|last=Corson

|access-date=May 25, 2018

|url=https://www.myajc.com/news/local/photos-confederate-memorials-metro-atlanta/4GRL1pq5JCvgl14heVFn8J/#p4n7UtNgEeaaFysXpM96yA

|archive-date=December 11, 2018

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181211010119/https://www.myajc.com/news/local/photos-confederate-memorials-metro-atlanta/4GRL1pq5JCvgl14heVFn8J/#p4n7UtNgEeaaFysXpM96yA

|url-status=dead

}}

{{See also|Six flags over Texas}}

The first Confederate flag and five other nations that have had sovereignty over Texas (Spain, France, Mexico, Republic of Texas, United States) appear above one of the side entrances to the Capitol. They also appear on the reverse of the Seal of Texas, which is the subject of a floor mosaic in the Capitol Extension. The seal's reverse was proposed by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and approved by the Texas Legislature and Governor in 1961, modified in 1991.{{cite web

|first=Wally

|last=Gobetz

|title=Austin - Texas State Capitol: Capitol Extension - Seal Reverse

|date=August 18, 2012

|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/8086953648/in/album-72157631672658805/}}

File:Coat of arms of the State of Alabama.svg]]

The Alabamian coat of arms features the Confederate battle flag's saltire in its design. Like Texas, the saltire on the coat of arms represents one of the five countries that have held sovereignty over part or all of Alabama.

The shield of the Confederacy was found in the Rotunda of the Florida Capitol, together with those of France, Spain, Great Britain, and the United States – all of them treated equally as "nations" that Florida was part of or governed by. The five flags "that have flown in Florida" were included on the official Senate seal, displayed prominently in the Senate chambers, on its stationery, and throughout the Capitol. On October 19, 2015, the Senate agreed to change the seal to remove the Confederate battle flag.Associated Press, "Florida Senate plans to remove Confederate flag from seal", Sun-Sentinel, October 19, 2015. The new (2016) Senate seal has only the flags of the United States and Florida.{{cite web|url=http://archive.flsenate.gov/cgi-bin/View_Page.pl?Mode=Archives&Tab=info_center&submenu=7&File=index.cfm&Directory=Info_Center/Archive/&Location=app|title=Flsenate Archive: Information Center > About the Legislature|website=archive.flsenate.gov|access-date=August 28, 2017|archive-date=March 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320010103/https://archive.flsenate.gov/cgi-bin/View_Page.pl?Mode=Archives&Tab=info_center&submenu=7&File=index.cfm&Directory=Info_Center%2FArchive%2F&Location=app|url-status=dead}}

In Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee, vehicle owners can request a state-issued license plate featuring the Sons of Confederate Veterans logo, which incorporates the square Confederate battle flag.{{cite web |title=Sons of Confederate Veterans |work=Georgia Department of Driver Services |url=http://motor.etax.dor.ga.gov/motor/plates/images/2004/cv.jpg |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620033643/http://motor.etax.dor.ga.gov/motor/plates/images/2004/cv.jpg |archive-date=June 20, 2012 }}[http://www.rtbrandon.com/blankplates/USA/nc/socv.jpg North Carolina] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002104015/http://www.rtbrandon.com/blankplates/USA/nc/socv.jpg |date=October 2, 2008 }}, [http://www.revenue.alabama.gov/motorvehicle/images/scv.jpg Alabama] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161212071812/http://revenue.alabama.gov/motorvehicle/images/scv.jpg |date=December 12, 2016 }}, [http://www.marylandmva.com/bin/c/o/Sons-of-Confederate-Veteran.gif Maryland] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325120030/http://www.marylandmva.com/bin/c/o/Sons-of-Confederate-Veteran.gif |date=March 25, 2009 }}, [http://www.mstc.state.ms.us/mvl/TAGS/Sons%20of%20Confederate%20Vet.JPG Mississippi] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080229003434/http://www.mstc.state.ms.us/mvl/TAGS/Sons%20of%20Confederate%20Vet.JPG |date=February 29, 2008 }}, [http://www.scdmvonline.com/images/plates/SonsofConfederacy.jpg South Carolina] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101207150814/http://www.scdmvonline.com/images/plates/SonsofConfederacy.jpg |date=December 7, 2010 }}, [http://www.tennessee.gov/revenue/vehicle/licenseplates/misc/confedvet.jpg Tennessee] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423112316/http://tennessee.gov/revenue/vehicle/licenseplates/misc/confedvet.jpg |date=April 23, 2009 }}, and [http://www.dmv.virginia.gov/images/plates/sonscv.jpg Virginia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228110625/https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/images/plates/sonscv.jpg |date=February 28, 2021 }}{{update inline|date=January 2023}}

In 1998, a North Carolina appellate court upheld the issuance of such license plates in the case Sons of Confederate v. DMV, noting: "We are aware of the sensitivity of many of our citizens to the display of the Confederate flag. Whether the display of the Confederate flag on state-issued license plates represents sound public policy is not an issue presented to this Court in this case. That is an issue for our General Assembly."{{cite web|url=http://www.aoc.state.nc.us/www/public/coa/opinions/1998/971563-1.htm|title=Sons of Confederate v. DMV|website=state.nc.us|access-date=August 28, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131119211437/http://www.aoc.state.nc.us/www/public/coa/opinions/1998/971563-1.htm|archive-date=November 19, 2013|url-status=dead}}

In 2015, the dispute over Texas vanity plates that would have displayed the logo ended up before the United States Supreme Court.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/23/us/a-test-of-free-speech-and-bias-served-on-a-plate-from-texas.html|title=A Test of Free Speech and Bias, Served on a Plate From Texas|first=Adam|last=Liptak|work=The New York Times |author-link=Adam Liptak|date=March 22, 2015|access-date=August 28, 2017|via=NYTimes.com}} In its decision in Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, the court ruled that license plates are governmental speech, so the government may decide what to have printed on them. Texas's refusal to issue flag-emblazoned license plates therefore didn't violate petitioners' right to free speech.{{cite news |title= Supreme Court: Texas doesn't have to allow Confederate flag license plates |newspaper=The Washington Post |date= June 18, 2015 |first= Robert |last= Barnes |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-texas-doesnt-have-to-allow-confederate-flag-license-plates/2015/06/18/d328b824-15c6-11e5-89f3-61410da94eb1_story.html }}

In 2015, Virginia recalled its vanity plates with the Confederate flag emblem pictured within the logo of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.{{cite web|last1=Akiyama |display-authors=etal |first1=Emily|title=Group Battles Virginia's Confederate Flag License Plate Ban|url=http://www.whsv.com/content/news/SCV-Battles-Virginias-Confederate-Flag-License-Plate-Ban-338933972.html|website=WHSV.com|date=October 30, 2015 |publisher=WHSV|access-date=November 3, 2015}} To holders of SCV plates, the state mailed replacements without the emblem. The old design with the emblem was invalidated, and driving with such Virginia tags was made a misdemeanor similar to driving an unlicensed vehicle. However, in October 2015, an SCV legal team tried fighting the ban in court.

{{See also|Lonnie Randolph, Jr.|Kay Patterson (South Carolina politician)}}

File:Confederate flag in Columbia, SC IMG 4773.JPG in 2012]]

The Confederate battle flag was raised over the State House on April 11, 1961, at the request of Representative John May ostensibly as a part of opening celebrations of the Confederate War Centennial, according to Dr. Daniel Hollis, an appointed member of the centennial commission. Many historians point out that the flag's appearance likely had a more nefarious purpose: to symbolize Southern defiance in the face of a burgeoning Civil Rights Movement. In March 1962, lawmakers passed a resolution directing the flag to be flown over the State House.{{cite news|last1=Seanna|first1=Adcox|title=As SC honors church victims, Alabama lowers its flags|url=http://www.wboc.com/story/29393858/lawmakers-move-from-confederate-flag-debate-to-grieving|agency=Associated Press|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626130656/http://www.wboc.com/story/29393858/lawmakers-move-from-confederate-flag-debate-to-grieving|archive-date=June 26, 2015}}{{cite web|last=Bursey|first=Brett|title=The Day the Flag Went Up|url=http://www.scpronet.com/point/9909/p04.html|website=South Carolina Progressive Network}}{{cite news|title=It's Long Past Time For South Carolina to Stop Flying the Confederate Flag|url=https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2015/06/its-long-past-time-south-carolina-stop-flying-confederate-flag|work=Mother Jones}} As Time magazine later noted, the move was "a states'-rights rebuff to desegregation."{{cite magazine|url=https://time.com/3930464/south-carolina-confederate-flag-1962/|title=This Is Why South Carolina Raised the Confederate Flag in the First Place|magazine=Time|date=June 22, 2015|access-date=July 3, 2015}} In 1996, then-governor David Beasley advocated for the removal of the flag from the Capitol dome, but later backtracked and was voted out of office.{{cite web |date=2015-06-23 |first=William |last=Cummings |access-date=8 November 2023 |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/23/confederate-flag-vote-south-carolina-state-house/29136303/ |title=Removing Confederate flag won't be quick, or easy |website=USA Today}}

On April 12, 2000, the South Carolina State Senate passed a bill to remove the Confederate flag from the top of the State House dome by a majority vote of 36 to 7. The new bill specified that a more traditional version of the battle flag would be flown in front of the Capitol next to a monument honoring fallen Confederate soldiers.{{cite web |last=Brunner |first=Borgna |date=June 30, 2000 |url=https://www.infoplease.com/south-carolinas-confederate-flag-comes-down |title=South Carolina's Confederate Flag Comes Down |work=Infoplease |access-date=December 23, 2021 }} The bill also passed the state's House of Representatives, but not without some difficulty. On May 18, 2000, after the bill was modified to ensure that the height of the flag's new pole would be {{convert|30|ft|m|0}}, it was passed by a majority of 66 to 43.{{cite news |title=South Carolina Votes to Remove Confederate Flag from Dome |first=David |last=Firestone |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/19/us/south-carolina-votes-to-remove-confederate-flag-from-dome.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 19, 2000 |access-date=June 23, 2015}} Governor Jim Hodges signed the bill into law five days later after it passed the state Senate. On July 1, 2000, the flag was removed from atop the State House by two students (one white and one black) from The Citadel;{{cite web|url=https://www.thestate.com/opinion/op-ed/article26889922.html|title=Furling that banner: The rise and fall of the Confederate flag in South Carolina, 1961–2000|first=Eric|last=Draper|website=thestate}} Civil War re-enactors then raised a Confederate battle flag on a 30-foot pole on the front lawn of the Capitol next to a slightly taller monument honoring Confederate soldiers{{cite web|title=South Carolina Confederate Monument|url=http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=17048|publisher=The Historical Marker Database|access-date=June 24, 2015|archive-date=May 14, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514055508/https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=17048|url-status=dead}} who died during the Civil War. State law prohibited the flag's removal from the State House grounds without additional legislation.

In 2005, two Western Carolina University researchers found that 74% of African Americans polled favored removing the flag from the State House altogether.{{cite journal |last1=Cooper |first1=Christopher A. |last2=Knotts |first2=H. Gibbs |title=Region, Race, and Support for the South Carolina Confederate Flag |journal=Social Science Quarterly |volume=87 |issue=1 |year=2006 |pages=142–54 |doi=10.1111/j.0038-4941.2006.00373.x |jstor=42956114}} The NAACP and other civil rights groups attacked the flag's continued presence at the state capitol. The NAACP maintained an official economic boycott of South Carolina for 15 years, citing the state's continued display of the battle flag, until the flag was eventually removed completely from the State House grounds.{{cite news|last1=Slade|first1=David|last2=Hartsell|first2=Jeff|title=Confederate flag controversy and NAACP boycott resurface amid talk of football bowl game in Charleston|url=http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20130810/PC16/130819917|access-date=June 24, 2015|work=The Post and Courier|date=August 10, 2013|archive-date=April 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160410013638/http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20130810/PC16/130819917|url-status=dead}}

In 2000, the National Collegiate Athletic Association "announced that it will cancel future Association-sponsored events in South Carolina if that state doesn't take action to remove the Confederate battle flag from atop its state capitol." The association said that "many coaches and student-athletes feel that an inhospitable environment is created by the display of the Confederate flag over the South Carolina state house", and its chair said, "there is no question that to a significant number of our constituents, the flag is a symbol of oppression." Display of the flag has prevented South Carolina from hosting any championship sporting events in which the sites are determined in advance.{{cite news |title=NCAA Executive Committee Approves Resolution Regarding South Carolina's Confederate Flag Issue |date=April 28, 2000 |url=https://www.ncaa.org/releases/divi/2000042801d1.htm |access-date=May 5, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927221428/https://www.ncaa.org/releases/divi/2000042801d1.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 27, 2007 }} This NCAA ban on postseason championships in South Carolina was strictly enforced, with the exception of HBCU Benedict College. In both 2007 and 2009, the school hosted the postseason Pioneer Bowl game, violating the NCAA ban, though no action was taken.{{cite news | title = Golden Tigers Win Pioneer Bowl XI | date = April 28, 2000 | url = http://thesiac.com/2009/11/25/golden-tigers-win-pioneer-bowl-xi/ | access-date = May 5, 2007 | archive-date = April 15, 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160415171308/http://thesiac.com/2009/11/25/golden-tigers-win-pioneer-bowl-xi/ | url-status = dead }} On April 14, 2007, Steve Spurrier, coach of the University of South Carolina football team, made an acceptance speech for a community service award in which he referred to the flag on the State House grounds as "that damn flag." This statement was also inspired by the actions of, as Spurrier said, "some clown" who waved the battle flag while being videotaped for SportsCenter.{{cite news | agency = Associated Press | title = Spurrier: Flag should come down from S.C. Statehouse | date = April 16, 2007| url = https://www.espn.com/college-football/news/story?id=2837735 | access-date =May 5, 2007}} On July 6, 2009, the Atlantic Coast Conference announced a decision to move three future baseball tournaments out of South Carolina citing miscommunications with the NAACP concerning the display of the Confederate flag in the state.{{cite news | agency = Associated Press | title = ACC moves 3 future baseball tourneys | date = July 6, 2009| url = https://www.espn.com/college-sports/news/story?id=4309688 | access-date =July 6, 2009}}

In June 2015, Bree Newsome, filmmaker and activist, climbed the flagpole and removed the flag in the wake of the Charleston church shooting.{{cite web|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/confederate-flag-fans-critics-gather-s-statehouse-article-1.2287700|title=South Carolina removes Confederate flag from Statehouse as crowd cheers, sings: 'Hey, hey, hey, goodbye'|work=New York Daily News|date=July 10, 2015|access-date=July 10, 2015}}

On July 10, 2015, Republican governor Nikki Haley signed a bill passed by the South Carolina General Assembly, which removed the flag,{{cite video| url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?327026-1/south-carolina-confederate-flag-removal-bill-signing-ceremony| title=South Carolina Confederate Flag Removal Bill - Video| website=C-SPAN |date=July 9, 2015 }}{{cite news| url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/09/421531368/south-carolina-gov-nikki-haley-to-sign-confederate-flag-bill-into-law| title=South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley Signs Confederate Flag Bill into Law| date=July 9, 2015| work=NPR News}} and it was given to the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room & Military Museum.{{cite web |url=http://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess113_1999-2000/bills/4895.htm |title=Bill 4895 |work=South Carolina General Assembly, 113th Session, 1999-2000 }}

Dueling groups have been competing over the commemoration of the flag, if any, should be held on the anniversaries of its removal on July 10.

After 2015, the South Carolina Secessionist Party has sometimes raised the flag on a temporary flagpole at the capitol on July 10 to mark the anniversary of the flag's removal.{{cite web |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/confederate-flag-coming-back-to-the-south-carolina-state-house-on-tuesday/ar-AAzOO2j |title=Confederate flag coming back to the South Carolina State House on Tuesday |last=Marchant |first=Bristow |date=July 10, 2018 |website=msn.com |publisher=MSN |access-date=June 26, 2019 |quote=The Confederate flag is coming back to the S.C. State House, at least for one day...On Tuesday, members of the S.C. Secessionist Party will raise the rebel banner on a temporary pole in front of the Gervais Street steps...The 10 a.m. ceremony will mark the three-year anniversary of the flag's permanent removal from the State House grounds.}} This was permitted because the group applied for and got permission to hold an event on the Capitol grounds, the flag was never left unattended, and the temporary flagpole and flag were removed, as required, at the end of the event. Protestors far outnumbered the two dozen flag supporters.{{cite news |title=Confederate Flag Raised at South Carolina Statehouse in Protest by Secessionist Party |date=July 10, 2017 |first1=Kalhan |last1=Rosenblatt |first2=Corky |last2=Siemaszko |newspaper=NBC News |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/confederate-flag-rises-south-carolina-statehouse-protest-secessionist-party-n781331}}

• In 2019, the permit of the South Carolina Secessionist Party was only valid from 6 to 8 AM, as a competing group, South Carolinians for Racial Justice, having requested it earlier than the Secessionists, had reserved the rest of the day specifically so that the flag could not be erected.{{cite news |first=Bristow |last=Marchant |title=Confederate flag rally planned for day of racial justice event |newspaper=The State |location=Columbia, South Carolina |date=July 9, 2019 |page=A3 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74165643/confederate-flag-south-carolina-state/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231108085118/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-state-confederate-flag-south-caroli/74165643/ |url-status=live |archive-date=8 November 2023 }}
• In 2020, competing applications were received simultaneously. The State House Memorial Honor Guard flew the flag from 8 to 11:45 AM;{{cite news

|title=Confederate flag rally, protests converge at SC state house

|newspaper=The State (Columbia, South Carolina)

|date=July 9, 2020

|page=A3

|first=Bristow

|last=Marchant

|via=newspapers.com

|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74165979/confederate-flag-at-south-carolina/}} the South Carolina Secessionist Party is defunct.{{cite news

|title=Confederate flag rally, protests converge at SC state house

|newspaper=The State (Columbia, South Carolina)

|date=July 9, 2020

|page=A6

|first=Bristow

|last=Marchant

|via=newspapers.com

|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74166940/confederate-flag-at-sc-state-house/}}

Several county and municipal governments have adopted flags or seals that incorporate flags of the Confederacy or reference confederate symbolism in their design.

The official seal of Baldwin County, Alabama feature the Confederate Battle flag one of a set of six historic flags that have ostensibly flown over the county.

The Flag of Mobile, Alabama, adopted December 1968, features a slightly modified city seal. The seal displays six historic flags that have flown over the city. One is the Third National Flag of the Confederacy, featuring the Confederate Battle Flag as the canton.

The flag of Montgomery, Alabama, adopted April 19, 1952, features a field of grey and red, divided by a blue bend fimbriated in white and charged with white stars. It is also charged with a gold wreath and the words 'City of Montgomery' in white. The grey references the uniforms of Confederate soldiers and the rest the Confederate Battle Flag.{{cite web |title=Montgomery, Alabama (U.S.) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-al-mm.html#sym/ |website=CRW Flags FOTW mirror |publisher=CRW flags |access-date=July 17, 2023}}

The flag of Trenton, Georgia was adopted in 2001 to protest the decision of the state government that same year to change its flag to one with less prominent Confederate symbolism. The town flag is simply the former state flag of 1956-2001 defaced with the name of the town and year of its founding. The flag features a square Confederate Battle Flag with the Seal of the State of Georgia in white defacing a blue side dexter.

The flag of Mount Zion, Georgia was adopted 10 April 2007, inspired by the example of Trenton, Georgia. It too seeks to continue the display of the 1956-2001 variant of the State Flag of Georgia.

Cannon County, Tennessee, on July 17, 1993, adopted a county flag based on the Third National Flag of the Confederate States of America. The flag honors Nathan Bedford Forest and the events of July 13, 1862 when the Confederate officer led a successful raid on the then Union-held town of Murfreesboro, Tennessee freeing a number of citizens of the town of Woodbury, Tennessee held prisoner. The flag occasionally flies at the county courthouse.{{cite web |title=Cannon County, Tennessee (U.S.) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-tn-cn.html/ |website=CRW Flags FOTW mirror |publisher=CRW flags |access-date=July 17, 2023 |archive-date=July 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230718003703/https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-tn-cn.html |url-status=dead }}

The Seal of Williamson County, Tennessee features a Confederate Battle Flag and cannon. A flag with the same Williamson County seal featuring the Confederate battle flag on it flies on the county courthouse grounds as well. The county has sought to remove the image of the flag from the seal. It appealed to the Tennessee Historical Commission for permission and this was granted in May 2022. That decision was challenged by a lawsuit filed by the Major Nathaniel Cheairs Camp 2138 Sons of Confederate Veterans chapter in December 2022. A ruling is expected.{{cite web |first=Anita |last=Wadhwani |title=Confederate group seeks to restrain Williamson County from removing flag from county seal |url=https://tennesseelookout.com/2023/07/12/confederate-group-seeks-to-restrain-williamson-county-from-removing-flag-from-county-seal/ |website=Tennessee Lookout |date=July 12, 2023 |access-date=July 23, 2023}}

Minnieville, Virginia is a former municipality and now unincorporated community in Prince William County, Virginia. It allegedly possesses a flag that is a modified version of the First National Flag of the Confederacy.

From 1985 to late 2020, the town of Remington, Virginia, had a Confederate flag in its municipal seal.{{cite web |title=Town of Remington official website |url=http://www.remington-va.gov/ |website=Town of Remington official website |publisher=municipal govt., town of Remington |access-date=June 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200309161742/http://www.remington-va.gov/|archive-date=March 9, 2020}}{{cite web |title="Welcome" slideshow image showing town emblem |url=http://cms5.revize.com/revize/remington/sliderimage/town-of-remington-va-01-remington-va-gov%20-%20Copy%20-%20Copy%20-%20Copy.jpg/ |website=Town of Remington official website |publisher=municipal govt., town of Remington |access-date=June 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200705003940/http://cms5.revize.com/revize/remington/sliderimage/town-of-remington-va-01-remington-va-gov%20-%20Copy%20-%20Copy%20-%20Copy.jpg |archive-date=July 5, 2020 |url-status=dead }} A variation of the seal, Confederate flag included, appeared on their police uniform shoulder patches.{{cite web |title=About Us |url=http://www.remingtonpolice.com/about-us/ |website=RemingtonPolice.com |publisher=Remington Police Department |access-date=June 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200121001156/http://www.remingtonpolice.com/about-us/ |archive-date=January 21, 2020}}{{cite web |title=image of police emblem patch |url=http://www.remingtonpolice.com/wp-content/uploads/RemingtonVAPatchPhoto.jpg |website=RemingtonPolice.com |publisher=Remington Police Department |access-date=June 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200122063320/http://www.remingtonpolice.com/wp-content/uploads/RemingtonVAPatchPhoto.jpg |archive-date=January 22, 2020 |url-status=dead }}

The Remington town council voted to remove the Confederate flag from its seal on July 20, 2020.{{Cite web |first=Don |last=Del Rosso |date=10 August 2020 |url=https://www.fauquiernow.com/fauquier_news/article/fauquier-stars-and-bars-removed-from-remingtons-seal-2020 |title='Stars and bars' removed from Remington's seal |work=fauquiernow.com |access-date=April 17, 2023 |archive-date=September 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929115912/https://www.fauquiernow.com/fauquier_news/article/fauquier-stars-and-bars-removed-from-remingtons-seal-2020 |url-status=dead}} Remington was perhaps{{weasel inline|date=January 2023}} the last town to remove the Confederate flag from its municipal emblem.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

From 1914 to 1933, the reverse of the city flag of Richmond, Virginia featured the image of an escutcheon incorporating the Confederate Battle Flag and the motto Deo vindice, "With God as our protector", a motto featured on the Seal of the Confederate States, dating from 1864.

File:Flag of Mobile, Alabama.png|Flag of Mobile, Alabama

File:Flag of Montgomery, Alabama.svg|Flag of Montgomery, Alabama

File:Flag of Mount Zion, Georgia.svg|Flag of Mount Zion, Georgia

File:Flag of Trenton, Georgia.svg|Flag of Trenton, Georgia

File:Flag of Cannon County, Tennessee.svg|Flag of Cannon County, Tennessee

File:Minnieville Flag.png|Unofficial flag of Minnieville, Virginia

File:Flag of Richmond, Virginia (1914–1933, reverse).gif|Former Flag of Richmond, Virginia (reverse, 1914–1933)

File:Festa-confederada-brasil-estados-unidos-santa-bárbara-doeste.JPG in the Brazilian city of Santa Bárbara d'Oeste.]]

From 1975 to 1998, a version of the Confederate battle flag appeared in the coat of arms and flag of Americana, São Paulo, a city in Brazil settled by Confederate expatriates.{{cite web|title=Símbolos do Município|author=Prefeitura de Americana|access-date=May 15, 2019|date=2012|url=http://devel.americana.sp.gov.br/americanaV5/americanaEsmv5_Index.php?it=6&a=simbolos&i=1&|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709053601/http://devel.americana.sp.gov.br/americanaV5/americanaEsmv5_Index.php?it=6&a=simbolos&i=1&|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 9, 2012}}

In June 2022, at the Uruguayan city of Pocitos, an individual put both the Confederate battle flag and the South African Apartheid flag at their apartment's balcony.{{cite web |url=https://www.lr21.com.uy/comunidad/1460327-bandera-apartheid-confederada-edificio-pocitos-montevideo-incitacion-al-odio-racial|title= Denuncian a vecino de Montevideo por colgar banderas que reivindican al apartheid y a la ultraderecha de EE.UU.|language= Spanish|date= June 2, 2022|publisher= La Red 21|access-date=August 21, 2023}}{{cite web |url=https://www.elobservador.com.uy/nota/inteligencia-policial-investiga-banderas-racistas-colgadas-en-un-balcon-de-pocitos-20226121168|title= Inteligencia policial investiga banderas racistas colgadas en una bandera de Pocitos|language= Spanish|date= June 1, 2022|publisher= El Observador|access-date=August 21, 2023}} The individual retired both flags amid complaints.{{cite web |url=https://www.montevideo.com.uy/Noticias/Vecino-de-Pocitos-descolgo-las-banderas-racistas-Fiscalia-continua-con-la-investigacion-uc823882|title= Vecino de Pocitos descolgó las banderas racistas; Fiscalía continúa con la investigación|language= Spanish|date= June 6, 2022|publisher= Montevideo Portal|access-date=August 21, 2023}}

File:Two genuine raggare at Power Big Meet 2005.jpg sporting the Confederate battle flag]]

American culture is exported all over the world and as a result, noticeable display of the Confederate flag is not confined to North America. Various overseas groups, movements and communities make use of it, albeit sporadically in most instances.{{cite news|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/confederate-flag-europe-trump-poland_n_5968a317e4b017418626ab5e/|title=This Is Why You're Seeing The Confederate Flag Across Europe|last1=Mathias|first1=Christopher|date=July 14, 2017|access-date=August 25, 2020}} Much like in the United States, the flag is displayed for range of reasons,{{cite web|url=https://theconversation.com/confederate-flags-fly-worldwide-igniting-social-tensions-and-inflaming-historic-traumas-142119|work=The Conversation|accessdate=September 20, 2021|author=Jordan Brasher|title=Confederate flags fly worldwide, igniting social tensions and inflaming historic traumas|date=July 17, 2020 }} but is most often associated with slavery and racism.{{cite journal|title=Flagging Support for Rockabilly Rebels: the Confederate Battle Flag's Place in the Current European Rockabilly Scene|author=Paul Glavey|journal=Kultūra ir visuomenė: Socialinių tyrimų žurnalas|year=2019|volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=29–49 |hdl=20.500.12259/99595|url=https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12259/99595}} In countries where most Nazi symbols are prohibited by law, such as Germany, Neo-Nazi groups may fly the Confederate flag at rallies as a stand-in.{{cite news|work=The New York Times|title=How the Swastika Became a Confederate Flag|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/opinion/white-supremacist-confederate-monuments-nazi.html|author=Brent Staples|date=May 22, 2017|access-date=September 20, 2021|archive-date=July 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210715031844/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/opinion/white-supremacist-confederate-monuments-nazi.html|url-status=live}}

In Italy, some Southern Italian soccer fans, such as that of the association football club Napoli, have begun to display the Confederate flag as an alleged symbol of southern Italy's long-standing dissatisfaction with the North of Italy.{{cite news|title=Why do Italian soccer fans and other foreigners fly the Confederate flag?|first=Adam|last=Taylor|date=June 22, 2015|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/06/22/why-do-italian-soccer-fans-and-other-foreigners-fly-the-confederate-flag/}}

As in the U.S., some display the flag as a light-hearted symbol of "rebellion"; without latching any significant political meaning to it. In Ireland, fans of both Cork GAA and Cork F.C., have waved the flag at intercounty and league matches; reflecting the nickname of County Cork as "the Rebel County" for its prominence in historical Irish rebellions, and red as the county color GAA Hurling is the most popular sport in Ireland, and the Cork team is called "The Rebels." In 2017, the Cork GAA president appealed to fans not to use such flags, and his successor in 2020 said they would in future be confiscated at Cork stadiums.{{cite news |last1=Roche |first1=Barry |title=Cork GAA to confiscate Confederate flags from fans attending matches |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/cork-gaa-to-confiscate-confederate-flags-from-fans-attending-matches-1.4277385 |access-date=June 12, 2020 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=June 12, 2020 |language=en}} While the Republic of Ireland is noted for a lack of nativist or far-right activism, Northern Ireland has however long suffered from sectarian division, often violently.{{cite news |last=Bieler |first=Des |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/06/12/ireland-is-addressing-its-own-issue-confederate-flags-being-displayed-by-sports-fans/ |title=Ireland is addressing its own issue of Confederate flags being displayed by sports fans |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=June 12, 2020 |access-date=January 12, 2021 }} Confederate symbols, including the battle flag, are often utilized by Ulster Loyalists on the far-right. These groups usually passively condone the flag's association with racism and white supremacy, while also invoking the shared Ulster-Scot heritage between some leaders of the Confederacy and Northern Irish Protestants.{{cite web |last1=Speiser |first1=Matthew |title=Here's why the Confederate flag is flown outside the US |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/why-is-the-confederate-flag-flown-outside-the-us-2015-6 |website=Business Insider |access-date=March 3, 2021}} Several loyalist paramilitary groups have been known to display confederate symbols; most notably the Red Hand Defenders, a designated terrorist group in the U.S., Ireland and the UK for their role in sectarian violence, including murder, during the 1990s.{{cite act |title=Terrorism Act 2000 |number=11 |year=2000 |article=2 |articletype=Schedule |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/11/schedule/2}}{{cite news |last=Smyth |first=Patrick |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/three-irish-groups-on-us-list-of-terrorists-1.340959 |title=Three Irish groups on US list of terrorists: The US State Department has named three Irish groups - the Continuity IRA, the Orange Volunteers, and the Red Hand Defenders |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=December 7, 2001 |access-date=January 11, 2021 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/terrorist-exclusion-list/ |website=state.gov |access-date=7 November 2023 |title=Terrorist Exclusion List }}{{cite news |last=Moriarty |first=Gerry |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/two-loyalist-paramilitary-groups-banned-1.159073 |title=Two Loyalist Paramilitary Groups Banned |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=March 4, 1999 |access-date=January 14, 2021 }}

The car-centered raggare subculture of Sweden sometimes use the flags on their vehicles and clothing as a kitsch symbol to represent America, without political meanings, along with other American symbols such as cowboy hats, old American muscle cars and other Americana.

In none of these instances is the Confederate flag necessarily a long-standing or ubiquitous symbol of the movement or group known for either now or in the past openly displaying it. Both Southern Italian and Cork sports fans display other, most often local symbols, far more widely than they have the confederate flag. For far-right groups outside of the U.S., the Confederate flag is only one of several flags prominently displayed, often alongside those of other historical imperial and/or fascist regimes associated with white supremacy, such as the flags of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, many flags associated with White and Apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia.{{Cite web|url=http://www.farenet.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Signs-and-Symbols-guide-for-European-football_2016-2.pdf|title=Monitoring discriminatory signs and symbols in European football|access-date=June 27, 2021|archive-date=June 30, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210630221519/https://www.farenet.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Signs-and-Symbols-guide-for-European-football_2016-2.pdf|url-status=dead}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2015/06/22/how-an-old-dutch-flag-became-a-racist-symbol|title = How an old Dutch flag became a racist symbol|newspaper=The Economist|date = June 22, 2015}}

{{see also|Charleston church shooting}}

On June 18, 2015, the day after a deadly church shooting was perpetrated in Charleston, South Carolina, by white supremacist Dylann Roof, whose website contained pictures of him holding the Confederate Battle Flag, many flags were flown at half-staff, including those at the South Carolina State House. The Confederate battle flag flying over the South Carolina Confederate Monument near the state house was not at half-staff, as South Carolina law prohibits alteration of the flag without the consent of two-thirds of the state legislature.{{cite news|last1=Moyer|first1=Justin Wm.|author1-link=Justin Moyer|title=Why South Carolina's Confederate flag isn't at half-staff after church shooting|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/19/why-south-carolinas-confederate-flag-isnt-at-half-mast-after-church-shooting/|access-date=June 19, 2015|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=June 19, 2015}} The flagpole lacked a pulley system, and thus the flag could not be flown at half-staff, only removed or left in place, as it was.

File:Flags at Fort Sumter (3926561675).jpg

In June 2015, the National Park Service ceased flying Confederate flags over Fort Sumter.{{cite news|title=Confederate flags taken down from Fort Sumter|url=https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/regional/confederate-flags-taken-down-from-fort-sumter/275-417358050 |access-date=July 1, 2015|publisher=NBC Charlotte|date=June 29, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701130029/http://www.wcnc.com/story/news/local/regional/2015/06/29/confederate-flags-taken-down-from-fort-sumter/29496035/|archive-date=July 1, 2015|url-status=live }}

On June 23, 2015, three state governors—Terry McAuliffe of Virginia (a Democrat), Pat McCrory of North Carolina (a Republican), and Larry Hogan of Maryland (a Republican)—announced plans to seek discontinuation of their states' Confederate-flag specialty license plates. In addition to the Charleston killings, the governors cited the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, issued days earlier.{{cite web |title= Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc. |work= SCOTUSblog |url= http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/walker-v-texas-division-sons-of-confederate-veterans-inc/ |access-date= June 20, 2015 |archive-date= June 23, 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150623011847/http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/walker-v-texas-division-sons-of-confederate-veterans-inc/ |url-status= live }} The Court affirmed that states are not constitutionally obligated to issue Confederate specialty plates.{{cite web|first=Jess|last=Bravin|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/virginia-moves-to-banish-confederate-flag-from-license-plates-1435071533|title=Governors Seek to Curb Confederate Flag License Plates: Moves follow Charleston mass killing, Supreme Court ruling|work=The Wall Street Journal|date=June 23, 2015|access-date=June 26, 2015}}

On June 24, 2015, Robert Bentley, governor of Alabama, ordered the removal of the Confederate flag from a memorial on the state capitol grounds. A spokeswoman for Governor Robert Bentley told the Montgomery Advertiser on Wednesday that he did not want the flag to be a "distraction".{{cite web|title=Efforts to banish Confederate symbols grow in US south|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33259521|website=BBC News|date=June 24, 2015|access-date=June 24, 2015}} Speaking with AL.com, Bentley said he made the decision himself to take the flag down.{{cite news|last1=Calamur|first1=Krishnadev|title=Alabama Governor Orders Removal Of Confederate Flags From Capitol|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/24/417162233/alabama-governor-orders-removal-of-confederate-flags-from-capitol|newspaper=NPR|date=June 24, 2015|access-date=June 24, 2015}}

Following the Charleston shooting, many commentators questioned the continued display of the Confederate flag on the South Carolina State House grounds.{{cite news|last1=Ortiz|first1=Erik|title=South Carolina's Confederate Flag Not Lowered to Half-Staff After Massacre|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/charleston-church-shooting/south-carolinas-confederate-flag-not-lowered-half-mast-after-church-n378316|access-date=June 19, 2015|publisher=MSNBC|date=June 19, 2015}}{{cite news|last1=Coates|first1=Ta-Nehisi|title=Take Down the Confederate Flag—Now|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/take-down-the-confederate-flag-now/396290/|access-date=June 19, 2015|publisher=The Atlantic|date=June 18, 2015}}{{cite news|last1=Kropf|first1=Schuyler|title=Despite mourning, statehouse Confederate battle flag remains at full staff|url=http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150618/PC16/150619374|access-date=June 19, 2015|publisher=The Post and Courier|date=June 18, 2015|archive-date=August 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160806040313/http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150618/pc16/150619374|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-33186078 |title=Why the Confederate flag started trending after the Charleston shooting – BBC News |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date=June 18, 2015 |access-date=June 22, 2015}}{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/20/charleston-shooting-confederate-flag-south-carolina |title=Charleston shooting: Confederate flag at heart of growing political storm | US news |work=The Guardian |date=January 1, 1970 |access-date=June 22, 2015}} Calls to remove the Confederate flag from the State House grounds, as well as debates over the context of its symbolic nature, were renewed after the attack{{cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/19/dylann-roof-charleston-police-charged-with-murder-black-church/28975573/|title=Dylann Roof charged with 9 counts of murder in Charleston attack|work=USA Today|date=June 19, 2015|access-date=June 19, 2015|first1=Yamiche|last1=Alcindor|first2=Doug|last2=Stanglin}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/20/us/charleston-shooting-reignites-debate-about-confederate-flag.html|title=Charleston Shooting Reignites Debate About Confederate Flag|work=The New York Times|date=June 19, 2015|access-date=June 20, 2015|first=Katie|last=Rogers}} by several prominent figures, including President Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, and Jeb Bush.{{cite news|title=Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz Weigh in on Confederate Flag at South Carolina Capitol|url=https://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/06/20/mitt-romney-calls-for-removal-of-confederate-flag-at-south-carolina-capitol/|work=The New York Times|date=June 20, 2015|access-date=June 21, 2015|first=Michael|last=Barbaro}} On June 20, several thousand people gathered in front of the South Carolina State House in protest. An online petition at MoveOn.org encouraging the removal of the flag had received over 370,000 signatures by that time.{{cite news|last1=Macpherson|first1=Robert|title=Protesters target Confederate flag after Charleston killings|url=https://news.yahoo.com/protesters-target-confederate-flag-charleston-killings-015001853.html|access-date=June 21, 2015|work=Yahoo! News|date=June 20, 2015}}

At a statehouse press conference on June 22, 2015, Governor Nikki Haley, flanked by elected officials of both parties, including U.S. Republican senators Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, and former Republican Governor Mark Sanford, called for the flag to be removed by the state legislature, saying that while the flag was "an integral part of our past, it does not represent the future" of South Carolina.{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-06-22/south-carolina-officials-call-for-confederate-flag-to-come-down|title=South Carolina Governor Backs Removal of Confederate Flag|first=Mark|last=Niquette|date=June 22, 2015|access-date=June 22, 2015|work=Bloomberg}} "We are not going to allow this symbol to divide us any longer," she said. The legislature, scheduled to meet the following day for a budget session, must vote by a two-thirds majority to extend the debate to the flag issue and by two-thirds to remove the flag from statehouse grounds,{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/charleston-church-shooting/south-carolina-gov-nikki-haley-calls-removal-confederate-flag-state-n379801|work=NBC News| first=Elisha|last=Fieldstadt|date=June 22, 2015|access-date=June 22, 2015|title=South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley Calls for Removal of Confederate Flag From State Capitol}} although some lawmakers have questioned the legality of that provision.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/23/us/south-carolina-confederate-flag-dylann-roof.html|title=Nikki Haley, South Carolina Governor, Calls for Removal of Confederate Battle Flag |date=June 22, 2015|access-date=June 22, 2015|work=The New York Times|first1=Frances|last1=Robles|first2=Richard|last2=Pérez-Peña |first3=Michael |last3=Barbaro |first4=Richard |last4=Fausset |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151009075506/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/23/us/south-carolina-confederate-flag-dylann-roof.html |archive-date= 2015-10-09 }} Haley said she would call for a special session if the legislature did not act.

"With the winds that started blowing last week, I figured it would just be a matter of time," said Ken Thrasher, speaking for the South Carolina division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, which opposed the flag's removal. "Whatever the Legislature decides to do, we will accept it graciously." A number of prominent Republicans who had previously appeared to struggle with the issue immediately endorsed Haley's call to remove the flag, including Kentucky Senator and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, and governors and presidential hopefuls Scott Walker and Rick Perry.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/06/22/senior-republicans-follow-nikki-haleys-lead-on-confederate-battle-flag/|first=Alan|last=Rappeport|date=June 22, 2015|access-date=June 22, 2015|title=Senior Republicans Follow Nikki Haley's Lead on Confederate Battle Flag}}

On June 23, 2015, the South Carolina General Assembly added discussion of the flag to its special-session agenda in a procedural vote that indicated broad bipartisan support to remove the flag from the Statehouse grounds. The motion carried by a unanimous voice vote in the state senate and by a 103–10 vote in the state house. In the senate chamber, the desk of Clementa Pinckney, the pastor and state senator who died in the attack, was draped in black cloth with a white rose atop it. Among the legislators speaking in favor of removing the flag was Republican State Senator Paul Thurmond, son of Senator Strom Thurmond, whose 1948 "Dixiecrat" segregationist presidential campaign helped politically re-popularize the flag.{{cite news|first1=Campbell|last1=Robertson|first2=Richard|last2=Pérez-Peña|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/24/us/south-carolina-nikki-haley-confederate-flag.html|title=Protests of Confederate Symbols Spread Nationwide|work=The New York Times|date=June 23, 2015|access-date=June 26, 2015}}{{cite web|first=Schuyler|last=Kropf|url=http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150623/PC16/150629748|title=Strom Thurmond's son Paul calls for Confederate flag to come down|work=The Post and Courier|date=June 23, 2015|access-date=June 26, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150625222129/http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150623/PC16/150629748|archive-date=June 25, 2015|url-status=dead}}

Eulogizing the Rev. Clementa Pinckney on June 26, 2015, before 5,000 congregants at the College of Charleston, President Barack Obama acknowledged that the shooting had catalyzed a broad movement, backed by both Republicans and Democrats, to remove the flag from official public display. "Blinded by hatred, [the gunman] failed to comprehend what Reverend Pinckney so well understood: the power of God's grace," Obama said. "By taking down that flag we express God's grace. But I don't think God wants us to stop there."{{cite news|first1=Kevin|last1=Sack|first2=Lizette|last2=Alvarez|work=The New York Times|date=June 26, 2015|access-date=June 26, 2015|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/27/us/thousands-gather-for-funeral-of-clementa-pinckney-in-charleston.html|title=President Obama Eulogizes Charleston Pastor as One Who Understood Grace}}{{cite news|url=http://gawker.com/obama-leads-mourners-in-amazing-grace-at-pinckney-fun-1714240326|title=In Breathtaking Moment, Obama Leads Charleston Mourners in 'Amazing Grace'|first=Jay|last=Hathaway|date=June 26, 2015|access-date=June 26, 2015|work=Gawker}}

In the weeks before the flag was officially removed, several men and women, including activist Bree Newsome, were arrested for removing or attempting to remove the flag as well as various other offenses stemming from the protests around the flagpole. The attempts to remove the flag were criticized by several South Carolina state legislators who supported the flag's removal because they said such actions could hurt their goal to have the flag permanently removed.{{cite web|url=http://www.greensboro.com/news/north_carolina_ap/nc-woman-arrested-at-confederate-flag-pole-at-sc-statehouse/article_c930f644-40f2-5019-92ab-d1f9b1eb467c.html|title=NC woman arrested at Confederate flag pole at SC Statehouse|work=News & Record Greensboro|date=July 4, 2015}}{{Dead link|date=March 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite web|url=http://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article26491453.html|title=Woman climbs fence at Confederate monument, arrested by SC State House security|work=The State|date=July 4, 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.kxlh.com/story/29441157/scdps-man-arrested-at-statehouse-after-altercation-with-protestors|title=Man arrested at statehouse after altercation with protestors|work=KXLH-TV|date=June 30, 2015|access-date=July 10, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150711140239/http://www.kxlh.com/story/29441157/scdps-man-arrested-at-statehouse-after-altercation-with-protestors|archive-date=July 11, 2015|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.kaaltv.com/article/stories/s3837580.shtml|title=Woman Arrested for Removing Confederate Flag in SC Statehouse|work=KAAL-TV|date=June 6, 2015|access-date=July 10, 2015|archive-date=February 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225013026/https://www.kaaltv.com/article/stories/s3837580.shtml|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/246363-activist-temporarily-takes-down-confederate-flag-at-sc-capitol/|title=Activist temporarily takes down Confederate flag at SC capitol|date=June 27, 2015|work=The Hill}}

On July 6, 2015, the South Carolina Senate voted, by the required two-thirds majority, to remove the Confederate flag from display on the South Carolina State House grounds. Following 13 hours of debate and over 60 attempts to amend the bill, the vote in the South Carolina House of Representatives to remove the flag was passed by a two-thirds majority (94–20) on July 9. Governor Nikki Haley signed the bill the same day.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/07/09/south-carolina-rep-jenny-horne-on-her-historic-and-surprisingly-personal-speech-it-needed-to-be-done/?hpid=z2|title=Jenny Horne: How a descendant of the president of the Confederacy helped vanquish his flag|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=July 9, 2015|access-date=July 9, 2015}}

On July 10, the Confederate flag was removed from the State House grounds and placed in storage for later display at the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room & Military Museum. Following the removal of the flag, the NAACP announced the end of its 15-year boycott of South Carolina.{{cite web|title=NAACP Votes to End South Carolina Boycott After Confederate Flag Comes Down|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/confederate-flag-furor/naacp-votes-end-south-carolina-boycott-after-confederate-flag-comes-n390616|publisher=NBC News|date=July 11, 2015|first=Phil|last=Helsel}}{{cite news|last1=Alman|first1=Ashley|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/naacp-south-carolina-ban_n_7777356|title=NAACP Ends 15-Year Boycott of South Carolina|publisher=HuffPost|access-date=June 21, 2020|archive-date=March 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310055116/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/naacp-south-carolina-ban_n_7777356|url-status=dead}}

File:Confederate Flag at The Citadel, September 2019.jpg's chapel in 1939, with Flag of the United States Virgin Islands and Washington D.C. on display in September 2019]]

In June 2015, a controversy at The Citadel over a Confederate Naval Jack, model 1863–1865, ended when the school's Board of Visitors voted in favor of moving the flag from the Summerall Chapel to what was called "an appropriate location on campus."{{cite web|url=http://www.wyff4.com/news/citadel-leaders-vote-to-move-confederate-flag-from-colleges-chapel/33745428|title=Citadel leaders vote to move Confederate flag from college's chapel|date=June 24, 2015}} As of September 2017, the flag had not yet been removed, nor had an "appropriate location" been selected.{{cite news|date=September 1, 2017|url=https://www.postandcourier.com/news/citadel-alumni-renew-pressure-to-remove-confederate-flag-from-chapel/article_f8b8bbf6-8f19-11e7-8e99-d777f083b7e9.html|title=Citadel alumni renew pressure to remove Confederate flag from chapel|work=The Post and Courier}}

A "Blood-Stained Banner" 3rd CSA flag flying on the grounds of the Marion County Governmental Complex was removed after the Charleston shooting, then reinstated, and eventually removed again. The old flag was taken to the nearby Marion County Historical Museum on Memorial Day 2016 for storage inside, and a new flag in the design of the 1st CSA flag was put up in a public display outside of the museum.{{cite news|last1=Callahan|first1=Joe|date=May 15, 2016|title=Confederate flag retired from in front of McPherson Governmental Complex|work=Ocala StarBanner|url=https://www.ocala.com/story/news/local/2016/05/16/confederate-flag-retired-from-in-front-of-mcpherson-governmental-complex/29886246007/}}

Following the Charleston shooting, the retailer Walmart announced that it would no longer sell items with the Confederate flag on them.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/23/walmart-removes-confederate-flag-merchandise-from-stores|title= Walmart removes Confederate flag merchandise from stores | first=Claire | last=Phipps|date=June 23, 2015|work=The Guardian}} In a statement to the press, Walmart stated that "We never want to offend anyone with the products that we offer. We have taken steps to remove all items promoting the Confederate flag from our assortment – whether in our stores or on our web site."{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/charleston-church-shooting/never-want-offend-walmart-pulls-confederate-merchandise-n380041|title='Never Want to Offend': Walmart Pulls Confederate Flag Merchandise|author=M. Alex Johnson|website=NBC News|date=June 22, 2015}}{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/23/as-walmart-goes-so-goes-the-nation-or-vice-versa/|title=Wal-Mart, American bellwether, and the Confederate flag|date=June 23, 2015|first=Sarah|last=Kaplan|newspaper=The Washington Post}}

Shortly afterward, a number of other retailers, including Amazon.com, eBay, Etsy, Sears (which also operates Kmart) and Target announced that they would also be removing Confederate flag items from sale.{{cite web|url= http://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/22/politics/confederate-flag-walmart-south-carolina/|title=Walmart, Amazon, Sears, eBay to stop selling Confederate flag merchandise|first=MJ|last=Lee|date=June 24, 2014|publisher=CNN}}{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-retailers-confederate-flag-20150623-story.html|title=Several major retailers ban sales of Confederate flag |first=Samantha |last=Masunaga|date=June 23, 2015|newspaper=Los Angeles Times}} Google also pulled Confederate flag merchandise from their shopping site.{{cite web|title=Google Is Pulling Confederate Flag From Google Shopping And Ads|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/23/google-confederate-flag_n_7649306.html|website=HuffPost|date=June 23, 2015|access-date=June 24, 2015}} Smaller flag retailers are also ceasing to sell it.{{cite news|url=http://www.freep.com/story/money/business/michigan/2015/06/24/confederate-flag-michigan/29211727/|newspaper=Detroit Free Press|date=June 24, 2015|access-date=October 30, 2017|title=Michigan retailers join in Confederate flag sales ban|first1=Frank|last1=Witsil|first2=Zlati|last2=Meyer}}

Valley Forge Flag, Annin Flagmakers, Eder Flag and the Dixie Flag Manufacturing Company, four of the largest U.S. flag manufacturers, also announced that they would cease selling Confederate flags.{{cite web |url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/rural-south-carolina-flag-factory-sadness-pride-171011420--finance.html |title=At rural South Carolina flag factory, sadness and pride |date=June 24, 2015 |first=Edward |last=McAllister |agency=Reuters |work=Yahoo! News}}{{cite news |url=https://time.com/3932924/flag-manufacturer-confederate/|title=Prominent Flag Manufacturer Will Stop Producing Confederate Flags |date=June 23, 2015 |first=Katy |last=Osborn |publisher=Time}}{{cite web |last1=Chapa |first1=Sergio |title=Dixie Flag will no longer sell confederate flags |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/news/2015/06/23/dixie-flag-will-no-longer-sell-the-confederate.html |website=bizjournal.com |publisher=San Antonio Business Journal|access-date=June 25, 2015}}

File:General Lee (2) (31340721).jpg", 1969 Dodge Charger, featured in The Dukes of Hazzard]]

After the Charleston shooting, Warner Bros. announced that they were halting production of The Dukes of Hazzard "General Lee" toy cars, which prominently featured a Confederate flag on the roof of the car.{{cite web|first=Rich|last=McCormick|title=Warner Bros. scraps Dukes of Hazzard car toys over Confederate flag controversy|url=https://www.theverge.com/2015/6/23/8836571/dukes-of-hazzard-car-toys-confederate-flag|website=The Verge|date=June 23, 2015|access-date=June 24, 2015}} Reruns of The Dukes of Hazzard television show were also pulled from TV Land's schedule due to the controversy.{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/tv-land-pulls-dukes-hazzard-reruns/story?id=32152437|title=TV Land Pulls 'Dukes of Hazzard' Reruns|date=July 1, 2015|access-date=July 1, 2015|agency=ABC News}} On July 2, 2015, professional golfer Bubba Watson announced that he would modify the General Lee car that he purchased at auction by painting an American flag over the Confederate flag that had appeared on the car's roof since it was customized for the TV series in 1978.{{cite news|last1=Parker|first1=Ryan|title=Bubba Watson will paint over Confederate flag on his General Lee|url=https://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-bubba-watson-confederate-flag-general-lee-20150702-htmlstory.html|access-date=July 2, 2015|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=July 2, 2015}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-33393860|title=Confederate flag: Bubba Watson to paint over Dukes of Hazzard car|date=July 4, 2014|work=BBC News}} Actor Ben Jones, who portrayed Cooter in the original series, announced that his chain of Cooter's Place novelty stores would still sell merchandise featuring the flag.{{cite web |url=https://www.tennessean.com/story/money/2015/06/24/cooters-place-will-remove-confederate-flag-merchandise/29234775/ |title=Cooter's Place will not remove Confederate flag merchandise |work=The Tennessean |date=June 24, 2015 |access-date=2017-05-19 }} Actor John Schneider, who portrayed Bo Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard television series, said he was "saddened" that Roof's murders could "cause one of the most beloved television shows in the history of the medium to suddenly be seen in this light."{{cite news |last1=Bond |first1=Paul |title='Dukes of Hazzard' Star Rips TV Land for Dropping Show: 'Can't We All Just Watch TV?' |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=July 1, 2015 }}

Also, in June 2015, Apple's App Store began removing mobile apps featuring the flag.{{cite web|url=http://toucharcade.com/2015/06/25/apple-removes-confederate-flag/ |title=Apple Removes All American Civil War Games From the App Store Because of the Confederate Flag |date=June 25, 2015 |first=Tasos |last=Lazarides |work=Touch Arcade}} Several U.S. Civil War-based wargames were initially removed. However, Apple later announced that they were only targeting apps "that use the Confederate flag in offensive or mean-spirited ways" and working with developers who felt their apps were wrongly removed.{{cite web |url=https://techcrunch.com/2015/06/25/apple-bans-games-and-apps-featuring-the-confederate-flag/ |title=Apple Bans Games And Apps Featuring The Confederate Flag [Update: Some Games Being Restored]|publisher=TechCrunch|date=June 25, 2015 |first=Sarah |last=Perez}}

The U.S. National Park Service announced that it is requesting that its retail partners stop selling the Confederate flag, as well as other items that depict the flag as a stand-alone feature.{{cite news|url=https://time.com/3934746/national-park-service-confederate-flag-sales/|title=National Park Service Aims to Stop Sales of Confederate Flags|date=June 24, 2015|first=Katy|last=Osborn|publisher=Time}}{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/06/24/national-park-service-moves-to-stop-sales-of-confederate-flags/|title=National Park Service moves to stop sales of Confederate flags|first=Al|last=Kamen|date=June 24, 2015|newspaper=The Washington Post}}

The American auto racing sanctioning body NASCAR, which has roots in the Southern United States and has many fans who fly the Confederate flag at campsites, has previously prevented the Sons of Confederate Veterans organization from sponsoring cars bearing the flag twice in 1993 (intended to be driven by Clay Young) and 2009 (intended to be driven by James Hylton in an ARCA race during that year's Speedweeks). ARCA also banned the sponsorship after the SCV planned to run the planned sponsorship on a stand-alone ARCA event.{{cite web|author=nascarman|url=https://www.racing-reference.info/showblog?id=3655|title=Historical Motorsports Stories writes: "The Times NASCAR Banned The Confederate Flag From Its Cars"|work=Racing-Reference|publisher=NASCAR Digital Media|date=June 11, 2020|access-date=December 1, 2020|archive-date=January 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114201028/https://www.racing-reference.info/showblog?id=3655|url-status=dead}}

Following the Charleston shooting, NASCAR supported Governor Haley's decision to remove the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State House. In addition, NASCAR chairman Brian France vowed that the members of NASCAR's sanctioning body would not associate themselves with the flag and they also wanted to eliminate the flag from races. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers and teammates Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon, along with team owner and former NBA player Brad Daugherty (at the time the only African-American team owner in NASCAR), also supported eliminating the Confederate flag from racing events.{{cite news|title=NASCAR chair Brian France wants 'insensitive symbol' eliminated at races|work=ESPN.com|date=June 27, 2015|url=https://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/story/_/id/13159392/nascar-chairman-brian-france-wants-confederate-flag-eliminated-races|access-date=June 21, 2020}} Prior to the Coke Zero 400 race at Daytona International Speedway on July 5, 2015, the track announced fans can voluntarily exchange Confederate flags for American flags.{{cite news |last=Schwartz |first=Nick |title=NASCAR fans can exchange Confederate flags for American flags at Daytona this weekend |work=USA Today |date=June 30, 2015 |url=https://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/06/nascar-fans-can-exchange-confederate-flags-for-american-flags-at-daytona-this-weekend |access-date=July 2, 2015}} On July 2, 2015, the NASCAR tracks issued a joint statement calling for fans to refrain from flying the Confederate flag at races,{{cite news|last=Gluck|first=Jeff|title=NASCAR tracks ask fans not to display Confederate flags|work=USA Today|date=July 2, 2015|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nascar/2015/07/02/confederate-flag-nascar-tracks-fans/29616829/|access-date=July 2, 2015}} but many fans still continued the practice.{{cite news|last1=Bever|first1=Lindsey|last2=Moyer|first2=Justin Wm.|author2-link=Justin Moyer|title=NASCAR faces 'Southern Thunder' as Confederate flags fly at Daytona|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/07/06/nascar-faces-rebellion-as-confederate-flags-fly-at-daytona/|access-date=July 11, 2015|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=July 6, 2015|archive-date=October 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201014094653/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/07/06/nascar-faces-rebellion-as-confederate-flags-fly-at-daytona/|url-status=dead}} On June 10, 2020, amid the George Floyd protests, NASCAR announced that it would no longer permit the display of Confederate flags at its events.{{cite news|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/10/nascar-bans-confederate-flag-at-all-events-and-properties.html|title=NASCAR bans Confederate flag at all events and properties|date=June 10, 2020|access-date=June 10, 2020|last=Mangan|first=Dan|work=CNBC}}{{cite press release |url=https://www.nascar.com/news-media/2020/06/10/nascar-statement-on-confederate-flag/ |title=NASCAR statement on confederate flag |website=NASCAR |date=June 10, 2020 |access-date=June 12, 2020}}{{Cite news |last=McCrummen |first=Stephanie |date=June 20, 2020 |title=Wrapped up in the Confederate flag: In a Southern bastion of racing, NASCAR's ban means grandstanding for some, realizations for others |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/20/heflin-alabama-confederate-flags/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221107171114/https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/20/heflin-alabama-confederate-flags/ |archive-date=November 7, 2022 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=November 7, 2022 }}{{Cite news|last=Levenson|first=Michael|date=June 10, 2020|title=NASCAR Says It Will Ban Confederate Flags|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/sports/autoracing/nascar-confederate-flags.html|access-date=June 30, 2020|issn=0362-4331}}

At the Washington National Cathedral, the Confederate battle flag appeared in two stained glass windows, which memorialize the Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. On June 8, 2016, Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington and the interim dean of the cathedral, said they would be removed "as soon as we can do it" and replaced, at least temporarily, with plain glass.{{cite news |first=Liam |last=Stack |date=June 10, 2016 |title=Washington National Cathedral to Rid Windows of Confederate Battle Flag |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/10/us/washington-national-cathedral-to-rid-windows-of-confederate-battle-flag.html |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=June 21, 2020 }}

The windows were installed in 1953 after lobbying from the Daughters of the Confederacy. The dean of the cathedral, the Very Rev. Gary Hall, said the Charleston shooting was the catalyst for the planned removal, saying "It seemed to me that we couldn't, with credibility, address the race agenda if we were going to keep the windows in there."{{cite news |first=Camila |last=Domonoske |date=June 9, 2016 |title=National Cathedral Will Remove Confederate Flags From Stained Glass Windows |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/06/09/481360313/national-cathedral-will-remove-confederate-flag-stained-glass-windows |newspaper=NPR |access-date=December 20, 2016}}{{cite news |first=John |last=Reeves |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/should-the-lee-windows-at-the-national-cathedral-be-removed/2017/04/28/05af59a0-2381-11e7-bb9d-8cd6118e1409_story.html |title=Should the National Cathedral remove its Robert E. Lee windows? It's complicated. |newspaper=Washington Post |date=April 28, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818125209/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/should-the-lee-windows-at-the-national-cathedral-be-removed/2017/04/28/05af59a0-2381-11e7-bb9d-8cd6118e1409_story.html |archive-date=August 18, 2017 }} On September 6, 2017, the windows were removed.{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/09/06/washington-national-cathedral-to-remove-stained-glass-windows-honoring-robert-e-lee-stonewall-jackson/ |title=Washington National Cathedral to remove stained glass windows honoring Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson |last=Boorstein |first=Michelle |date=September 6, 2017 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=September 6, 2017}}

{{further|White backlash|Flaggers (movement)|Trumpism}}

Within a year of the shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, a backlash against the removal of Confederate flags that the shooting inspired was playing out across the country, according to Politico. The backlash also extended to the national political scene.

• In the first two months after the Charleston shooting, 173 Confederate flag rallies were held.{{cite news|title=All 173 Confederate flag rallies since the Charleston massacre, mapped|first=Christopher|last=Ingraham|date=August 17, 2015|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/08/17/all-173-confederate-flag-rallies-since-the-charleston-massacre-mapped/}}
• Confederate flags were displayed at rallies supporting Donald Trump. A police officer, Michael Peters, resigned after being suspended for flying a Confederate flag from his pickup truck at a "Love Trumps Hate" rally, three days after Trump's presidential win.{{Cite news|url=http://www.record-eagle.com/news/local_news/confederate-flag-flying-officer-suspended/article_2669b1dc-5ba9-5502-8ebb-e90cc1d696d3.html|title=Confederate flag-flying officer suspended|last=Thompson|first=Carol|date=November 13, 2016|publisher=Traverse City Record Eagle}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/11/14/michigan-cop-suspended-after-driving-with-confederate-flag-at-love-trump-hate-rally/|title=Police officer who drove with Confederate flag at 'Love Trumps Hate' rally resigns|last=Bever|first=Lindsey|date=November 15, 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=November 15, 2016}} Even though event organizers of rallies "...ask participants only to bring American flags to the rally, with no Confederate flags allowed",{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/coming-soon-to-the-national-mall-a-pro-trump-protest-juggalo-rally-liberal-march-and-weddings--on-the-same-day/2017/08/23/a6df0bfa-83fc-11e7-902a-2a9f2d808496_story.html|title=Coming soon to the National Mall: A pro-Trump protest, Juggalo rally, liberal march and weddings — on the same day|last=Stein|first=Perry|date=August 23, 2017|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=August 23, 2017|archive-date=November 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129145840/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/coming-soon-to-the-national-mall-a-pro-trump-protest-juggalo-rally-liberal-march-and-weddings--on-the-same-day/2017/08/23/a6df0bfa-83fc-11e7-902a-2a9f2d808496_story.html|url-status=dead}} they continued to be seen at rallies.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/12/us/politics/confederate-flag-trump-rally.html|title=At a Donald Trump Rally, a Confederate Flag Goes Up, and Quickly Comes Down|last=Corasaniti|first=Nick|date=August 11, 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=August 11, 2016}} On July 6, 2017, a Confederate battle flag was waved to greet President Trump upon his arrival in Poland for a brief visit before the G20 summit in Hamburg.{{cite news |author-link=Charlie Pierce |first=Charles P. |last=Pierce |url=https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a56168/poland-confederate-flag-trump/ |title=An American President Was Greeted in Poland by the Confederate Flag |work=Esquire |date=July 6, 2017 |access-date=7 November 2023 }} While Trump expressed support for the removal of Confederate flags in 2015,{{Cite news|url=https://time.com/4907348/donald-trump-confederate-statues-flags/|title=Candidate Trump Said He Would Take Down a Confederate Flag|last=Berenson|first= Tessa|date=August 18, 2017|publisher=Time}} racists, anti-government radicals, and states' rights activist believed that he offered dog-whistling encouragement to them during his 2016 presidential campaign.{{Cite news |url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/06/2016-donald-trump-south-confederate-flag-racism-charleston-shooting-213954 |title=How the Rebel Flag Rose Again—and Is Helping Trump |last=Adams |first=Mason |date=June 16, 2016 |work=Politico}}

Three Sons of Confederate Veterans groups erected the flags of the United States, South Carolina, and the Confederacy on June 16, 2018, on private land which was located outside Holly Hill, South Carolina. A sign said that the Sons of Confederate Veterans is honoring "All of Our Ancestors."

On June 21, 2018, a newspaper report said that graffiti that said "Move" and five dollar signs had been sprayed on the sign.

"Holly Hill Town Council asked the Confederate groups in April not to erect the display along U.S. 176. Mayor William Johnson said he was disappointed by the display."{{cite news|title=Confederate Display Vandalized in South Carolina|newspaper=U.S. News & World Report|date=June 22, 2018|agency=Associated Press|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/south-carolina/articles/2018-06-22/confederate-display-vandalized-in-south-carolina}}

{{further|List of monuments and memorials removed during the George Floyd protests|List of changes made due to the George Floyd protests}}

After both the Southeastern Conference and the NCAA threatened to ban games in Mississippi until the flag was changed, the Mississippi Legislature passed a bill in June 2020 to abolish the state 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".{{Cite web|last=LeBlanc|first=Paul|date=June 28, 2020|title=Mississippi state legislature passes bill to remove Confederate symbol from state flag in historic vote|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/28/politics/mississippi-flag-confederate-emblem/index.html|access-date=June 29, 2020|website=CNN}} Governor Tate Reeves signed the bill into law on {{dts|2020.06.30}}. The flag commission accepted submissions for a new design from the public and the winner was put to a referendum on November 3, 2020. Mississippi voters overwhelmingly approved the measure; the new flag went into effect on January 11, 2021.{{Cite web|last=Ulmer|first=Sarah|date=January 11, 2021|title=Mississippi flies new flag over State Capitol|url=https://yallpolitics.com/2021/01/11/mississippi-flies-new-flag-over-state-capitol/|website=Y'all Politics|access-date=November 8, 2021|archive-date=April 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410143439/https://yallpolitics.com/2021/01/11/mississippi-flies-new-flag-over-state-capitol/|url-status=dead}}

• Flaggers (movement)
• List of Confederate monuments and memorials
• The Proper Way to Hang a Confederate Flag
• Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials
• {{section link|Christiansburg High School|Confederate Flag Protest}}
• List of symbols designated by the Anti-Defamation League as hate symbols
• Nazi symbolism
• Symbols of Francoism
• Fascist symbolism
• Flag of Novorossiya

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

• {{cite news

|title=It Belongs in a Museum: The Confederate Flag and the Comic Corrective

|first=Daniel K.

|last=Merwin

|date=2015

|publisher=Central States Communication Association

}}

• {{cite news

|title=Pride and prejudice? The Americans who fly the Confederate flag

|last=Ladd

|first=Donna

|newspaper=The Guardian

|date=August 6, 2018

|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/06/pride-and-prejudice-the-americans-who-fly-the-confederate-flag}}

• {{cite news

|title=How the Confederate battle flag became an enduring symbol of racism

|last=Blakemore

|first=Erin

|newspaper=National Geographic

|date=January 12, 2021

|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/how-confederate-battle-flag-became-symbol-racism|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217192512/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/how-confederate-battle-flag-became-symbol-racism|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 17, 2021}}

{{Neo-Confederates}}

Category:21st-century controversies

Category:21st-century controversies in the United States

Category:2010s controversies in the United States

Category:White people-related controversies in the United States

Category:Charleston church shooting

Category:Flags of the Confederate States of America

Category:Flag controversies in the United States

Category:NASCAR controversies

Category:Lost Cause of the Confederacy

Category:Military flags

Category:Race-related controversies in the United States

Category:The Dukes of Hazzard

Category:White nationalist symbols

Category:Activism flags