Rebel Confederate Battle Flag

When a group of southern states chose to secede from the United States in 1860 and 1861, they were determined to preserve slavery. The war that ensued between these secessionist states and the union was a conflict over the enslavement of Black people, and it’s largely agreed upon that this was the driving force behind the American Civil War.

By the end of the war in 1865, which the South lost, their flag came to represent pro-slavery ideology and white supremacy. In the post-war era, it became popular among supporters of the “states rights” movement—now known as the Dixiecrats—to symbolize segregation. The Dixiecrats argued that the Constitutional principle of “states rights” equated to the constitutionally-protected right to segregate.

Embrace History: Rebel Confederate Battle Flag

The Rebel Confederate Battle Flag, which featured a blue saltire (cross) on a red field and seven white stars, was designed by a congressional staffer, William Porcher Miles. It was not a national flag, but it grew to be associated with the Army of Northern Virginia under the command of General Pierre Beauregard.

The flag was also used by white supremacists to incite violence against African Americans and Jewish Americans. In 2015, after images of Dylann Roof holding a Confederate flag emerged, the South bowed to pressure and removed the Confederate flag from its government buildings. But the rebel flag remained prominent in popular culture. Truckers, motorcycle riders, and “good ol’ boys” depicted on TV shows like The Dukes of Hazzard gave the flag a new identity as a symbol of rebellion divorced from its historical context in the Confederacy.