Tuesday, June 23, 2015

State Flags That Still Display the Confederacy Today

South Carolina is under scrutiny because it still flies the Confederate flag at its state capitol, but a number of other southern states go further incorporating it in their state flags, as this WashPost article points out, in subtle and not so subtle ways.  Mississippi leads the way (above) while Arkansas hides it as one of the stars in their flag and Florida has adopted a more modern flag.

I have long asked my students what the long lasting implications of the Civil War are and start it by looking at the southern flags (and remember the Confederacy has several flags).   If you want to go higher on Bloom's taxonomy, the question that many Americans are facing today is should we still allow it to be part of our state flags and why are they even part of it.  The Post article points out that a number of the southern state flags were adopted shortly after Reconstruction ended.  Students will undoubtedly will be surprised how much Confederate history is still alive today. 

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