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The Confederate battle flag, flown by insurgents inside the American Capitol, has long been a symbol of white revolt.
A historic first: the Confederate battle flag in the American Capitol. Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images Allied soldiers never reached the Capitol during the Civil War. But on January 6, the Confederate battle flag was waved for the first time ever by rioters in the U.S. Capitol building. The flag’s prestige in the Capitol riot is no surprise to those who, like me, know its history: since its debut during the Civil War, the Confederate battle flag has been regularly waved by white insurgents and reactionaries fighting the rising tide. of the newly desired political political power. A lithograph of 1897 shows changes in the Confederate flag design. The ‘Southern Cross’ design, chosen to visually distinguish Allies from Union soldiers in battle, has become a symbol of white revolt. Library of Congress via National Geographic The infamous diagonal blue cross with white stars on a red background was never the official symbol of the Confederacy. The Confederacy’s original “stars and rods” design was too similar to the American flag, leading to confusion on the battlefields, where troop positions were marked by flags. The official flag has undergone a series of changes in efforts to distinguish the Union from the troops of the Union. The Confederacy would eventually adopt the “Southern Cross” as its battle flag and affirm it as a symbol of white revolt. Although technically the battle flag, it was the most widely used and became more commonly known as the Confederate flag. The Confederate Battle Flag is prominent in this depiction of the 1864 Battle of Franklin, Tennessee. Kurz and Allison, restored by Adam Cuerden, via Wikimedia Commons. The Original Emblem Six decades before the Nazi swastika became an instantly recognizable symbol of white supremacists, the Confederate flag of war was waved over the forces of the rebellious Confederate states of America – military troops organized in revolt against the idea that the federal government can ban slavery. The founding documents of the Confederacy explicitly state its objectives of white supremacy and the preservation of slavery. In March 1861, the Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens of the Confederacy declared: ‘its foundations have been laid, the cornerstone of which rests on the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordinate to the superior race is its natural and normal state. The documents drawn up by the declining states make it the same point. Mississippi’s statement, for example, was very specific: “Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery – the greatest material interest of the world.” Rebellious white students at the University of Mississippi hoisted a Confederate battle flag in a setback against James Meredith’s attendance as the first black student in 1962. Bettman via Getty Images Setback against racial integration After the Civil War, the veteran groups of the Confederate countries flag used during their meetings to commemorate fallen soldiers, but otherwise the flag mostly disappeared from public life. After World War II, however, the flag appeared as part of a setback against racial integration. Black soldiers who fought discrimination abroad experienced discrimination when they returned home. Racist violence against black veterans returning from combat has prompted President Harry Truman to issue an executive order disregarding the military and banning discrimination in federal hiring. Truman also called on Congress to pass a federal ban on lynchings, one of nearly 200 unsuccessful attempts to do so. In 1948, retaliation for Truman’s integration efforts came, and the Confederate battle flag resurfaced as a symbol of white supremacist public intimidation. That year, U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond, a South Carolina Democrat, ran for president as the leader of a new political party of the segregationist South Democrats, nicknamed the “Dixiecrats.” During their marches and riots, they opposed the integration of Truman under the banner of the Confederate battle flag. During the fifties and sixties, white Southerners waved the Confederate battle flag during riots – also violent – to oppose racial integration, especially in schools. In 1962, for example, white students at the University of Mississippi hoisted it during a riot that disputed the enrollment of James Meredith as the university’s first black student. It took the deployment of 30,000 U.S. troops, federal rangers and national guards to get Meredith into the classroom after the violent riot left two dead. Historian William Doyle calls the riot – which contains the Confederate battle flag in its midst – an ‘American uprising’. Charleston, Charlottesville and the Capitol Recently, the Black Lives Matter era saw an increase in violent incidents involving the Confederate battle flag. It has now appeared prominently in at least three recent major violent incidents carried out by people on the right. In 2015, a white supremacist who posed online with the Confederate battle flag killed nine Black church members during a prayer meeting in their church. In 2017, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists carried the battle flag when they marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, to prevent the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. One white supremacist drove his car through a crowd of anti-racist opponents and killed Heather Heyer. [Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.] On January 6’s riot in the Capitol, the siege could undoubtedly distill the dark historical context by an insurgent holding the Confederate battle flag inside the Capitol building. In the background of the photo are the portraits of two American senators from the Civil War era – one an ardent supporter of slavery and the other an abolitionist who was once beaten unconscious for his views on the Senate floor. A man carries the Confederate war flag in the U.S. Capitol on January 6 between portraits of senators who both opposed and supported slavery. Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images The flag has always represented white resistance to increasing black power. It may be a coincidence of exact timing, but certainly not of context, that the riot took place a day after Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff won US Senate seats in Georgia. They are the first black and first Jewish senators from the former Confederate state, respectively. Warnock is only the second black senator from below the Mason-Dixon line since the reconstruction. Their historic victories – and presidential election Joe Biden – in Georgia came through large-scale organization and the rise of coloreds, especially black people. Since 2014, nearly 2 million voters have been added to the rolls in Georgia, indicating a new bloc of black voting power. It should therefore come as no surprise that the white insurgents of today, against the shifting tide of power, identify themselves with the Confederate battle flag. This article was published from The Conversation, a non-profit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Jordan Brasher, Columbus State University. Read more: Capitol investment raises questions about the extent of the white supremacist infiltration of the US police. A second accusation is just the beginning of Trump’s legal misery, Jordan Brasher not working, consulting, not owning shares in or receiving funding from any company or organization that benefits from it. this article, and did not disclose any relevant commitments outside of their academic appointment.