Regarding the country of Georgia – I think they have a really cool flag. Not one cross but five.
Now regarding the state of Georgia and flags – there is something about their current flag that has bugged me and I wonder how many other people have noticed it. A few years ago, there was a great deal of hubbub about people trying to get rid of any U.S. state flag that featured the infamous Confederate “Stars and Bars” battle flag. You know, this one:
Now I don’t have a problem with that at all. The only place I want to see that flag is in museums or an occasional Civil War reenactment. That’s not what bugged me; it was something else. Oh and by the way, note that the flag is darn near square, not the big rectangle as it is often portrayed today.
This is where a history lesson comes in. The Confederate States of America did not only have just the one flag. They had basically four, though not all at one time. The Confederate Battle Flag, the one that caused all the controversy and pictured above, was the battle flag – the flag carried in battle; not the national flag. The Confederate States of America had official national flags that were different and apparently little known to people today.
The first one is here (remember what this one looks like):
Then they came up with this one that looks way too much like a surrender flag:
Then they realized their mistake and changed it to this one:
But by then it was basically too late. Soon after, the South surrendered and the Civil War was over.
There’s a reason for this flag history lesson, and it’s coming. But first let’s take a look at the state of Georgia’s flags after the Civil War. These were obtained from the Georgia Secretary of State’s website.
Heres 1879-1902:
1902-1906:
1906-1920:
1920-1956:
Are you noticing a pattern here? They bear a remarkable resemblance to the first Confederate national flag. This of course was intentional. Then came a new flag design from 1956-2001:
This fairly obviously depicts the Confederate battle flag. Apparently the people of Georgia had forgotten what the Confederate national flags looked like. Well, not all of them. More about that in a moment. Near the turn of the 21st century, many people started to get upset that the Georgia flag featured the Confederate battle flag and protested it. In response, the State of Georgia came up with this rather uninspiring banner which was used from 2001-2003:
And then came the big con (or it seems that way anyway). In 2003, the Georgia legislature came up with a new flag design which I’ll show you in a second. Then in 2004 a referendum was held to decide what was to be Georgia’s new flag the boring 2001 flag or the “new” 2003 flag. The flag that won was this one, and it has been Georgia’s flag to this day:
And here’s the first Confederate national flag again:
They’re practically identical! The only difference is the addition of the seal of the state of Georgia. They got rid of a flag that only featured the Confederate battle flag and replaced it with one that looks almost exactly like the original Confederate national flag! Some Georgia southerner is probablystill laughing about it to this day.
There are two lessons here:
1. The power of a symbol, in this case the Confederate battle flag. It was not even the national flag of the C.S.A. but it has somehow captured the emotions of a nation much more effectively than any of the Confederate national flags.
2. This is what happens when you don’t know your history. What’s the old saying – “Those that don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it.” This is an excellent example.
Ahhh Jonathan… Let’s talk of Flags – the Georgian. State of.
I am a Flagger. This is a subject near and dear to my heart.
Some corrections. The Confederacy had 3 National Flags.
The aforementioned 3 above -
1st National “Stars and Bars”
2nd National “Stainless Banner” and “Jackson Flag”
3rd National – The background (white with red stripe) is used in Georgia/Alabama Power signs.
As for Battleflags. Approx 13,000 variations. Square, Rectangle, Some red white and blue, some no red (Hardee Pattern), some no blue (Citidel) , some yellow (Van Dorn) , some green (Sons of Erin) , and 1 black (Quantrill).
Missouri, Mississippi, NC, Alabama, Florida, Texas, and Maryland have some form of Confederate symbolism in thier current state flags.
Virginia and South Carolina have Confederate State flags (thier state flags were created after leaving the Union and have remained unchanged in design ever since)
OK, Now Georgia.
The original state flag was left out of your lesson. The blue (some Red) background with the 3 pillared Arch. The red version was used by General Bernard Bee when he gave Stonewall his Nickname.
The part about not knowing your history dooms you to repeat it comes really into play when Barnes forced his ugly Legacy rag on us. Senator Peg Blitch said it perfectly when she voted for the change. She said something along the lines of “If they don’t like the current flag, I will give them 3 Confederate flags to complain about”
What she meant was the barnes 110 week legacy flag had 3 versions of Confederate flags on it. The original version as background, and the pre 56 and 56 flag versions.
As for the current perdue flag. It was strongly supported by Tyrone Brooks and his GABEO organization,
Ga code doesn’t specify it as having any Confederate ties. Not the designation of the stars or the origin of the flag itself. The stars mean the 13 colonies (stars representing 9 yankee states on a Southern state flag!)
The early designers of the current flag (Bobby Franklin and George Hooks) took cues from Confederate versions. Franklins utilized a flag from Tennessee that had stars with 7 points instead of 5 and “In God We Trust” in the white bar. Hooks used this version which was adopted:
http://64.235.34.221/flagimages/ZachryRangers.jpg
That belongs to the 27th Ga Infantry
Remember Brooks strongly supported this version.
OK, finally the history of the 1956 flag.
What is now commonly referred to as the “56 Flag” was created by a suggestion from Atlanta attorney John Sammons Bell, then-chairman of the State Democratic Party, attorney for the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG), and later Judge on Georgia Court of Appeals. His desire was to “forever perpetuate the memory of the Confederate soldier who fought and died for his state.”,because as a young boy, he attended reunions of the old Confederate Veterans with his Grandfather, and learned the Battleflag was a soldiers flag.
On July 1st, 1956, Georgia Senate Bill 98 took effect. SB98 was signed into law on February 13th, 1956 by then-Governor Marvin Griffin, and it called for a new design to the Georgia State Flag.
Waynesboro State Senator and former Confederate Colonel Herman H.Perry designed the flag it replaced in 1879, based on the 1st Flag of the Confederacy, AKA Stars and Bars. Similar to our current flag, it had 2 red stripes and 1 white stripe, and a field of blue down the left side, which was a Government flag.
By 1955 however, people like Representative Denmark Groover argued at the time that the old flag never had enough meaning for him when he was a boy and that the new flag “would replace those meaningless stripes with something that has deep meaning in the hearts of all true Southerners”
Others like Senator Jefferson Davis of Cartersville also argued that the state should be entitled to adopt the new flag, because “Georgia suffered more than any other state in the Civil War and endured a scorched earth policy from the mountains of Tennessee to the sea.” SB98 was discussed and passed with little fanfare, and became law on July 1st, 1956.
It is a fact that under the 1879 Perry version flag, Jim Crow, lynching, segregation, and blatant discrimination were widely practiced and flourished in Georgia, as well as across America, but it is also fact that Georgia’s greatest gains in Civil Rights came under the “56 Flag”.
Under the 1956 Bell version flag, Georgia’s schools were fully integrated, Black citizens were no longer lynched, they began enjoying full civil and equal rights in business, political, and social settings. Georgia gained 3 professional sports teams – Falcons, Braves, and Flames – hosted 2 Super bowls, held the 1996 Olympics, and set the pace for the New South.
In 1958, the United States Congress passed laws granting the same rights and recognition enjoyed by Union Veterans to men who served in the Confederate States Army and Navy. To this day Confederate Veterans are United States Veterans.
Public Law 85-425 adopted May 23, 1958 as H.R. 358
AN ACT
To increase the monthly rates of pension payable to widows and former widows of deceased veterans of the Spanish-American War, Civil War, Indian War, and Mexican War, and provide pensions to widows of veterans who served in the military or naval forces of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War…
CONFEDERATE FORCES VETERANS
Sec. 410. The Administrator shall pay to each person who served in the military or naval forces of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War a monthly pension in the same amounts and subject to the same conditions as would have been applicable to such… if such forces had been service in the military or naval service of the United States.
Sec. 2. This act shall be effective from the first day of the second calendar month following its enactment.
Unfortunately, the 1956 Bell version flag had its enemies. Attempts at claiming the “56 flag” was changed to fight integration a long 2 years after the Brown vs. Board decision helped begin the BIG LIE that remains to this day. Although the historical facts are out there that plainly refutes this, truth means little for those with agendas.
Concerning those who claim that the flag was “… designed as a last desperate grasp of defiance against integration.” Judge John Sammons Bell said, “Absolutely nothing could be further from the truth … every bit of it is untrue.” He further stated, “Anybody who says anything to the contrary is wrong or perpetuating a willful lie.”
Also during 1956, several newspaper accounts of the proposed change in the GEORGIA FLAG were published. In none of the articles was there any hint that the flag change was for any reason other than that stated by the gentlemen who proposed the change.
Former Governor Ernest Vandiver said
“I can assure you that there was no discussion of segregation or of the U.S. Supreme Court. All that was discussed was the coming centennial of the Civil War and this flag was meant to be a memorial to the bravery, fortitude and courage of the men who fought and died on the battlefield for the Confederacy. More Americans died in that war than any other war in the history of America, before or since.”
In April 1992, the Atlanta Journal Constitution conducted a poll of 43,000 people, and their results were that 75% of citizens wished the “56 Flag” remain as is. Then on July 5th, 1992, the Atlanta Journal Constitution released the results of their own investigation into the flag change of 1956:
“There is little written record of the 1956 Legislature and no audio record. News stories about the change were few. In none of our research did we find any record of a stated connection between changing the flag and opposition to desegregation rulings.”
In a May 29th, 1992 article from the New York Times relating to former Georgia Governer Zell Miller’s failed attempt to change the flag, House Speaker Thomas Murphy from rural Haralson County said he had always promised “my folks” that he would not vote to change the flag. “I personally don’t see anything wrong with the flag we have,” Mr. Murphy said.
On March 9, 1993, Denmark Groover took to the floor of the Georgia House to challenge then Gov. Miller’s proposal to change the 1956 flag. He admitted the obvious that segregation was a heated topic in 1956 and added,
“But those who now say that the legislature was obsessed with the matter of segregation to the exclusion of all other matters know not of what they speak…”
[Groover's March 9, 1993 remarks to the GA House are attached as Exhibit A to his 1994 deposition ]
Denmark Groover listed numerous appropriations made to fund historical markers and the Stone Mountain memorial in preparation for the tourism expected to accompany the 1961 Centennial Observances for the War Between the States:
· 1952 — HR 250-9286 (pp 1250,1331,1689,1815,1828) To Propose and urge the creation of a Confederate Memorial Park at Stone Mountain. Adopted 11Feb.1952
· 1953 — HB 160 (pp 12,131,134,171,374,381) To provide pensions for widows of Confederate Veterans Adopted 4 FEB. 1953
· 1953 — SR 65 (pp 1251,1260,1481,1491,1689) The Confederate Veterans’ Home property was given to the Georgia military department Adopted 1Dec.1953
· 1955 — HR 35 (pp114,134,759) A resolution urging the Governor to purchase Stone Mountain because, “the incomplete and unsightly condition of the Stone Mountain Memorial has long weighed upon the pride and civic conscience of all Georgians.” and the acquisition of Stone Mountain by the State would insure, “a lasting Memorial.” Adopted 18Jan.1955
· 1955 — HR 48 (pp155,200) Recommended the placing of a bust of General “Stonewall” Jackson in the Hall of Fame in New York City. Project was begun by the UDC and had the, “whole hearted endorsement,” by the State. Adopted 20Jan.1955
· 1955 — HR 145 (pp513,680,690,759) A resolution designating December 9th of each year as “Uncle Remus Day” Adopted 15Feb.1955
· 1955 — HR 195 (p800) A resolution honoring ‘Miss Anne Collins as, “Miss Deep South of 1954″ Adopted 16Feb. 1955
· 1955 — HB 14 (pp32,37,51,81,82) A bill to establish the Georgia State War Veterans’ Home Adopted 7June1955
· 1955 — HR 22 (p90) “A resolution naming the new bridge across the Wilmington river “Memorial Bridge” in honor of deceased veterans.” Adopted 17June1955
· 1956 — SR 30 (pp 449,468,1135,1140,1378) a resolution creating the “All-south Centennial Committee of Georgia” Adopted 17Feb.1956
· 1956 — SR 48 (pp1068,1174) A resolution to preserve the Confederate Flags at the Capitol. Adopted 15Feb1956
· 1956 — HB 188 (pp 236,306,309,431) A bill to abolish the State Division of Confederate Pensions and Records. It was amended to put all records with reference to, “the glorious men of the Confederacy,” under control of the Department of Archival History. Adopted 26Jan.1956
· 1956 — HB 241 (pp 297,581,587) A bill to dispose of the Confederate Soldiers’ Home and to provide for the care of widows now living there. Adopted 2Feb.1956
· 1956 — SB 98 (pp 598,602,710,719,856) This is the bill that created the wonderful 1956 State Flag. Adopted9Feb.1956
· 1957 — HR 217 (p1027) A resolution to commend the Confederate Veterans’ Sons (SCV) for their efforts to preserve our glorious heritage. Adopted 20Feb.1957
· 1957 — HB 610 (pp 876,1036) A bill to increase the amount of pension given to widows of Confederate Veterans Adopted 19Feb.1957
· 1957 — HR 234 (pp1100,1179) A resolution to commend the formation of the Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial Association and encourage them (it) to finish the monument. Adopted 22Feb.1957
Numerous State funded Historical Markers were placed around Georgia in the following years:
1953-40, 1954-249, 1955-380, 1956-125, 1957-341, 1958-285, 1959-238, 1960-42, 1961-14, 1962-33, 1963-22, 1964-18, 1965-7 .
That’s a total of 1,794 markers placed between 1953 and 1965. Of those, 1,373 were placed between 1953 and 1959. You might reasonably conclude that history and memorials were “on our minds” during those years.
The upcoming centennial of the war was on the minds of many Americans. In 1957, the U.S. Congress issued a joint resolution creating the Civil War Centennial Commission to “coordinate the nationwide observances.” Georgia officials expected a lot of war-related tourism during the observances, so the vast majority of the above historical markers are related to the War for Southern Independence. These markers, the Stone Mountain memorial and the 1956 flag were all efforts to memorialize Georgia’s veterans, Georgia’s people and to present southern pride to all visitors.
Denmark Groover went on to say:
“To now conclude that the flag was adopted primarily as a symbol of segregation is justified only in the minds of those who, for their own purposes, would teach one segment of our population to hate another because of the faults of their ancestors. “
On Thursday, September 26th, 1996, during the annual Carter Town Hall Meeting at Emory University, Former Georgia Governor, Former United States President and Nobel Prize winner Jimmy Carter stated;
“ We should take the attitude that this (1956) flag is not racist in nature,
and the fact that the flag does play a major role in Southern history
is a legitimate historic recognition”
But the lies grew and multiplied. Another bit of untruth was that somehow the flag was “Bad for Business”, and although the previously mentioned sports franchises and events came here under the “56 Flag”, businesses like Home Depot were created here, Coca-Cola thrived and truly went global. Hartsfield Airport became the biggest in the world and 3 Interstates were built. Foreign companies built numerous plants here, and the economy was booming. The “56 Flag” was seen in movies like Smokey and the Bandit, and on TV shows like Matlock. Regardless, truth was ignored and facts tossed out the window.
In 1994, James Andrew Coleman filed a Federal Lawsuit against then Governor Zell Miller over the 56 Flag. Mr Coleman lost the suit and the flag remained, but once again Denmark Groover stood up to the plate, and in his deposition under oath he stated
” I have no personal knowledge which would dispute the purely historical motives which were expressed then and since by the sponsors and others involved with the legislation when it was introduced in the Senate. While I cannot say that the Supreme Court’s rulings regarding desegregation played absolutely no role in my decision to support the bill in the House, I can say that segregationist sentiment was not the overriding or even a significant factor in my vote concerning the new flag, or, based on personal observation and knowledge, in its ultimate adoption by the House….”
It all finally came to a head in January 2001, when Ex-Governor Roy Barnes Blitzkrieged the legislature with threats, lies, and intimidation. Having ran on a campaign not to touch the flag, and just finished an interview on CNN in October 2000, stating the flag was not an issue, his flag change happened so fast not even most legislators knew what was happening. Those who voted with him received extra money for their campaigns and districts, those who refused were stripped of funding, or even in the case of Bowdon’s Jack West, had his district removed thru redistricting for voting against the change.
Barnes told the media that Georgians will forget in 3 months, but Georgians are not as stupid as politicians think they are and voted him and his Democratic party out of power for the first time in 132 years. Roy Barnes was also dropped as a Vice Presidential Candidate option from the 2004 National Democratic Ticket. Under the Barnes Rag, our school children were dropped from 49th to 50th in education rankings, and the economy tanked. Barnes even lied about securing the infamous Mercedes Benz plant.
Georgia based troops have taken the “56 Flag” with them onto the foreign battlefields of Viet Nam, Grenada, Beirut, Bosnia, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq – and just as their Confederate ancestors before them – fought and died for their homes, families, and flag. Millions of Georgia citizens aged 5 to 50 were born under that flag.
The well-respected Mason Dixon Polling Firm conducted a Georgia flag poll in 2004. It shows that 79% of Georgians say the Flag issue is not settled and demand what is termed a ‘Fair Flag Vote’ as originally promised by Governor Sonny Perdue. Georgia State Rep. Tim Bearden has submitted HB15 to allow a Fair Vote between the 1956 Bell version flag and 2003 Perdue version flag. Governor Perdue has stated the issue is settled, and the 79% of Georgians can take a hike.
Jonathan
If you have questions or want to find out further
send me an email at georgiaflagger@joimail.com