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FLYING THE CONFEDERATE FLAG.   Term Paper ID:28999 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines the debate over flying the Confederate Battle Flag over the Statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina.... More...

10 Pages / 2250 Words 10 sources, 18 Citations, MLA Format $40.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Examines the debate over flying the Confederate Battle Flag over the Statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina. Past & recent history. Sentimental & historical meaning of the Confederate flag to Southerners. Issues of symbolism, partriotism, racism, slavery. South vs. North. Views of whites & African-Americans in South Carolina. Argues that the Confederate flag should remain. Gives reasons. Paper Introduction: “To strike freedom of the mind with the fist of patriotism is an old and ugly subtlety,” wrote Adlai Stevenson in a 1952 speech, and his words could well apply to the debate that has gone on for generations in the state of Georgia over the flying of the state’s flag, which since 1956 has had the Confederate emblem incorporated into it. Although recent protests over the Georgia flag have not been as those in South Carolina over the Confederate Battle Flag’s flying over the statehouse in Columbia – a somewhat more egregious action – it remains a contentious issue in the state that is considers itself both to be the heart of Dixie and also the heart of the new, enlightened, progressive South (Harrison A1). Protests over the state’s flag, which is seen by some as a reminder of the state’s history of independence and by others as a con Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. It did notbegin to prosper economically, however, until the charter expired in 1753,and economic growth became pronounced after the appointment of James Wrightas royal governor in 176 . In 1962 itwas an act of defiance toward a federal government forcing an end to thesegregated South. In response to the 1954 Supreme Court decision declaringpublic school racial segregation unconstitutional, an amendment was adoptedpermitting state support of private education as an alternative to publicschools. The controversy in Columbia was ended this spring whenthe state senate voted to end the 38-year stalemate over the Confederatebattle flag that flutters above the Statehouse dome exactly 139 years tothe day after Confederate forces shelled Ft. Sumter in Charleston Harborand ignited the Civil War (Braun 32). "Let the People Vote on the Confederate Flag". The Metaphysical Confederacy: James Henley Thornwell and the Symbols of Southern Values. Bonner summarizes this point: Until a war for the Union became a war for liberation, African Americans lacked what white citizens could take for granted: a flag to celebrate, a flag to bleed for, a flag that could convey and encapsulate emotionally satisfying displays of patriotic identity and pride (M1). The pre-1956 version also displays the state seal on a blue field onthe left side, but on the right side - where the current flag has theConfederate emblem - are three horizontal bars, two red and one white. "To strike freedom of the mind with the fist of patriotism is an oldand ugly subtlety," wrote Adlai Stevenson in a 1952 speech, and his wordscould well apply to the debate that has gone on for generations in thestate of Georgia over the flying of the state's flag, which since 1956 hashad the Confederate emblem incorporated into it. 1997.The Los Angeles Times, "Old Times There Are Nor Forgotten", 25 October 1998: A18.The Los Angeles Times, "Georgia Chamber Ducks the Flag Issue, 23 April 2 : A26.Rollins, Richard. Georgia was very much a part of southern resistance to the civilrights movement. "South Carolina Senate Moves to End Stalemate on Confederate Flag". The Los Angeles Times, 11 February 1993: A5.Harrison, Eric. Works CitedBonner, Robert. "Transforming a Flag - and Its Meaning." The Los Angeles Times, February 18, 2 : A3.Braun, Stephen. "Georgia Flag's Rebel Emblem Assume Olympian Proportions". Neo-Confederates insist, as did Douglass in 1861, that if "their" sacred symbol conjures up memories of slavery, then the U.S. Other scholars have argued that this is simply an apologist'sversion of the war, one that downplays the moral terribleness of slavery.(Stetson 39). But now, for many in the state it is no longer a symbolof slavery, which is something for the history books, or segregation, whichtoo is being pushed into the history books as well. Nonslaveholdersfrequently failed to support the coastal planters in their struggles withthe North over slavery. The flag was raised in part as a measure of defiance against CivilRights laws, but also to commemorate the Civil War centennial. Recent History While protests have been raised over the Georgia state flag for anumber of years, the controversy over the flag was raised to conflagrationlevels during the 1996 Olympic Games when the host city of Atlanta - andthus the flag of Georgia - was at the center of the world's attention. This fact accounts for the strength of opposition by African-Americans to the flag, for they see its resurgence as a symbol at preciselythe time that blacks were beginning their march toward equality and fullcitizenship as anything but coincidental (Braun A1). Although recent protestsover the Georgia flag have not been as those in South Carolina over theConfederate Battle Flag's flying over the statehouse in Columbia - asomewhat more egregious action - it remains a contentious issue in thestate that is considers itself both to be the heart of Dixie and also theheart of the new, enlightened, progressive South (Harrison A1). Here in the spiritual capital of the New South, a war is raging over the most enduring symbol of the Confederacy - the rebel battle emblem in the state flag. Last month the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce found a way toavoid the controversy and still pay respect to the state's history byflying an older version of the state's flag, the one used before the 1956incorporation of the Confederate emblem Los Angeles Times A26). The misfortune is not that each group should want to do so,but rather that the moment of one group's strength is the other's nadir(Gold and Gerstenzang A3). But perhaps an even more important argument for keeping the flag isthat it is a reminder of the entire history of the South. Historical Background To understand the recent furor over the placement of the Confederateemblem on the state flag it is necessary to understand its pastsignificance to Georgians, and to understand this one must understand thehistory of European settlement in the state, which from first colonizationwas an agricultural area. The Los Angeles Times 13 April 2 : A32.Buckley, William. Relations between the colonists and the NativeAmericans were generally friendly, and slavery was prohibited until 1749. A good deal of recent scholarship has argued that the Civil War wasabout a great many issues, only one of them being slavery - which was infact used as an excuse by the industrialized North for its predations onthe South. The Flags of the Confederacy. Tallahassee: UP of Florida. Senators who had loudly backed the flag's presence for decadesconceded that the mounting financial toll of an eight-month boycott led bythe National Association for the Advancement of Colored People had becomeunbearable. Both sides do indeed seem interested in striking at freedom ofthe mind with their own form of loudly proclaimed patriotism, and if manyGeorgians have been far too insensitive to the continuing legacy of slaveryand the awful weight of racism, then others have not remembered theterrible colonialism of Reconstruction and the loss forever of a way oflife that was bound and yet also separate from slavery. Columbia: Rank and File, 1999.Stetson, Kennedy. "Gore, Bradley Take Gloves Off in Heated Debate on Race Issues." The Los Angeles Times. The vote was a compromise of sorts on the issue: the Stars and Barswere removed from its perch beneath the U.S. The flag for theseGeorgians is not a symbol of slavery but of loyalty to ashared heritage only they can truly understand (Buckley B7). Just as the Confederate emblem to many white Georgians symbolizes apast that encompasses slavery but is not in the main defined by it, forAfrican-American Georgians, this is the period that they are put in mind ofby the Confederate emblem on the state flag - this period of intensiveracism. Flags are the embodiment ofboth. The Los Angeles Times, 19 July 1995: A1.Hinkle, Don. Yet, if this be so (and it is hard to argue that it is not) then itmust also be allowed that the Confederate Battle Flag has also beentransformed from what it once was. Nevertheless, when the final showdown came in 1861,a majority voted to secede from the Union. But the issue of how to handle the Confederateemblem on the state flag and how to address the issue in general of theConfederate battle flag - which looks so simple to advocates on both sidesof the protest - is much more complex than recent political debates wouldindicate. Georgia served this purpose well. The Damned Red Flags of Rebellion. And the Confederate flagremains a symbol of the refusal to assimilate. TheBritish desired a buffer between South Carolina and the Spanish in Floridaand the French in Louisiana. (Hinkle 31). It erases a part of the past that peoplewould do well never to forget. The Los Angeles Times 19 January 2 : B7.Cannon, Devereux. As has so often been the case, what years of political pressurecould not accomplish, a much shorter period of economic pressure could.(Dutka F2) Overlooked in the debates over both the Georgia and South Carolinaflags was a silent third party, a sort of elephant in the corner that hashistorically made debates over the Confederate flag so rancorous and soseemingly impossible of solution. Slavery was introduced in the mid-18th century to accommodate newforms of farming, but Georgia was never universally pro-slavery. Atlanta: Turner Publications. "Mountain of Racist History Casts Shadow on Olympics". Protests over the state's flag, which is seen by some as a reminder ofthe state's history of independence and by others as a continuingcelebration of the racism of the South, has become increasingly heated overthe past several decades. This is, ironically, a point that blackGeorgians should be able to sympathize with, since many of them want theflag removed for precisely the same reasons - as a symbol that they arefighting to return their sense of identity to what it was before they wereenslaved (Cannon 41). Twofactions dominated Georgia politics in the early 19th century, onerepresenting the coastal communities and the slaveholders and the otherincluding the up-country people and the nonslaveholders. In a day in which everythingis homogenized, this must be a good thing. government for so long sanctionedslavery. Most white Georgians, according to polls, are up in arms over what they see as an assault on their Southern heritage (Harrison A5). flag (but itserves as well of the Confederate flag) that it is "the embodiment, not ofsentiment, but of history." But he was wrong. and state Palmetto flag abovethe dome and remove similar banners from inside the legislative chambers toa spot outside the Statehouse, behind a memorial for Confederate soldiers. And yet, there may be for the citizens of Georgia a possiblecompromise. Woodrow Wilson said of the U.S. With pressure intensifying to remove it, you'd have thought from the yowl that went up from the angry good ol'boys and traditionalist that someone was trying to ban Merle Haggard from the jukebox. The state legislature passed a law in 1955 to implement thistactic if federal courts ordered any public school to integrate. After Appomattox: How the South Won the War. It is also anemblem of the fact that the South still possesses a local and distinctsense of identity that has been lost to the homogenizing forces of massmedia and modern culture in so much of the rest of the country (Los AngelesTimes A18). The Los Angeles Times, 21 February 2 : A3.Gold, Matea and Gerstenzang, James. One thing that has been noticeably missing from most of the currentdebate about the Confederate flag is an informed discussion of the ways inwhich symbols are changed over time. (It was also agricultural before Europeansettlement, with the natives combining food collection with low-impacthorticultural methods). "S.C.'s Flag Controversy Stirs Up Painful Moments". Miami: Pelican Pub. Even after its assimilation into the global economy, its capitulationto civil rights and the mainstreaming of native inventions like countrymusic and barbecue, the South remains a place apart, its most burningissues often a puzzle to the rest of the country. This paper examines the history leading up to the current protestsover the state flag and the particular tenure of the most recent debates,ending with arguments over why the flag should remain. 1995. In 1732, the British philanthropists James Oglethorpe and JohnPercival secured a royal charter to establish a colony in the area,providing for a board of trustees to govern it. African Americans have known how this works. Embattled Banner: A Reasonable Defense of the Confederate Battle Flag. But here the Confederate banner is as sacred as Mom, baseball and pickup trucks. When the Columbia marchers waved the Stars and Stripes, they did so confident that this emblem had been redeemed of earlier associations at least twice: first by federal troops during the Civil War and then by federal courts and marshals during the civil-rights movement a full century later (Bonner M1). Macon: Mercer UP. The American flag as a symbol has transmuted its meaning; it hasbecome for black Americans reborn as something of their own. 27 November 1999: A3.Harrison, Eric. One news report from 1993 - as the city of Atlanta was beginning tobuild its Olympic fields and to craft its public face for the games -summarizes the controversy that continued throughout the games. White Georgians, and white Southerners in general, want to rememberwhat they were like before their state was crushed by Reconstruction, whenthey were the center of their own cultural and political universe. It might be argued that at the time ofthe Civil War that the Stars and Stripes themselves were not appropriate asa symbol for black Americans, for they had flown over a country thatsanctified slavery far longer than had the Confederate flag (Fiore A1). In 1864 Georgia was invaded by Union forces under General WilliamTecumseh Sherman, which took Atlanta on September 2 and then proceeded onthe famous "March to the Sea," ending in Savannah in December. But it should be clear from the debates over the flag that have beenheard in Atlanta since the Olympics that the Confederate flag means a greatdeal to many white Georgians, most of whom would agree that while it isterrible to hold another human being in bondage it is also terrible toforget one's history, terrible to allow oneself to be colonized to theextent that one forgets who one is. flag, with its equally disreputable past, should be objectionable as well. The debate over the appropriateness of the Georgia state flag seemedto be between whites who were romanticizing and idealizing the state'sagrarian, slaveholding past and blacks who wanted an acknowledgement of allthat they had suffered. To take it downdoes not do honor to the slaves. The effort to take it off the flag is being met with massive resistance. The early settlers includedmany English debtors, but also Scots, Germans, Swiss, and some German Jews.Oglethorpe arrived with the first group and founded Savannah in 1733. 1999.Fiore, Faye. But while it was certainly this, it was also adebate still about the South versus the North, about two different culturesexisting within the United States that come into conflict with each otherstill as they have done for hundreds of years. 1994.Farmer, James. The controversy in Georgia is similar in many ways to the recentlyresolved issue of South Carolina's flying the Confederate Battle Flag overthe state capital. Now it is hard to imagine any African-American objecting to the flyingof the Stars and Stripes because the U.S. After1959, however, closing schools to avoid integration became a local option.In fact, it was reportedly a 1956 Supreme Court school desegregationdecision that promoted state leaders to add the Confederate emblem to theflag (Harrison A1). Perhaps this flag - the one that flew over Georgia during its longfight back from Reconstruction - can bring the state's people together. This overlooks a central point often missed in these never-ending flag controversies: the ability of symbols to change their meanings with the circumstances. Bothgroups want to build a stronger future by referring to a moment of strengthin the past. When manyGeorgians look at the Confederate emblem, they see a reminder of the terrorthat the North inflicted so gleefully on the South and the terriblestruggle that Georgia in particular had in trying to recover from thedamages of Sherman's men (Rollins 47). 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