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.
