Who keeps changing the Georgia Flag?

The flag for the state of Georgia has gone through eight iterations and is due for a ninth. Some of these changes seem innocent enough at first glance but just a little bit of research can uncover some darker motives.

The First One

Before the Civil War, Georgia did not have an official state flag but there was a law requiring militias to have a flag so they made one up. It’s got the word justice and constitution and some Latin in there. Good enough, it’s a flag.

The Second One (1879–1902)

This one was introduced by Herman H. Perry¹, a former Confederate colonel, whose Confederate history definitely influenced this flag. For reference, here is the first Confederate flag called ‘Stars and Bars’.

Pretty similar right? Keep this one in your head because it’ll become more important later.

The Third, Fourth and Fifth Ones (1902–1956)

1902–1906 on the left and 1906–1920 on the right

The coat of arms was added to the second flag and was then given an MS Paint redo in 1906 although it’s possible that they are both differently printed versions of each other.

In 1920, a version with the official State Seal had started cropping up and was adopted as the official flag with various inconsistencies in the text and the seal itself because this was the olden days or because the Secretary of State sent one manufacturer new_flag_FINAL.svg and sent the other one new_flag_FINAL_FINAL(2).svg. Either way, these were minor changes to roughly the same flag inspired by Stars and Bars.

The Sixth Flag (1956–2001)

Whoa, now that’s a flag that stirs up some discussion. As some of you might recognize, this flag incorporates elements of the Confederate battle flag (notice: the entire thing). The Confederate battle flag has its own long disputed history² but it rose to prominence when the States’ Rights Democratic Party a.k.a. the Dixiecrats adopted it as their flag. The Dixiecrats formed in 1948 in direct response to the desegregation of the military and their platform was summed up by:

We stand for the segregation of the races and the racial integrity of each race; the constitutional right to choose one’s associates; to accept private employment without governmental interference, and to earn one’s living in any lawful way.

This flag change came 2 years after Brown v Board of Education, at the beginning of the Civil Rights movement and in the period when the Georgia State government was passing segregationist legislature¹ such as:

House Resolution 185 — Interposition Resolution

This resolution declares the U.S. Supreme Court Decisions of May 17, 1954 ( Brown v. Board of Education) and May 31, 1955 in the school segregation cases, and all similar decisions, by the Supreme Court “relating to separation of the races in the public institutions of a state … are null, void, and of no force or effect.

The Seventh Flag (2001–2003)

By 2001, there was enough opposition to the flag that a new one was commissioned. There’s not much to say about this one other than:

1. You can tell it was designed by a committee.
2. You can tell I use the word ‘designed’ judiciously in the sentence above.

Holy crap is that thing ugly. Luckily it didn’t last long.

The Current Flag (2003-present)

In 2003, the state of Georgia was sick of looking at that disgusting flag and called a public referendum to choose between the 2001 and 2003 versions. Remember the flag I told you would be important later? Scroll back up to look at the first flag of the Confederacy and then look at the current flag. The current flag looks more like the flag of the Confederacy even more so than the second flag, the only difference really is the number of stars and the fact that the State Seal is in the center of the stars.

So What?

Symbols are important but also not important. What the flag looks like does not influence anyone’s daily life in the slightest and changing a flag won’t change the structures that exist in society today. But symbols do represent what society stands for and encapsulate the beliefs of a community. It seems clear that elements of the flag are deeply rooted in segregationist sentiments as well as being almost entirely informed by the Confederacy. The Confederacy lasted a sum total of 4 years whereas the state of Georgia has existed since 1733 and was one of the first 13 states of the US, the flag should incorporate more than a small part of Georgia’s history and it should symbolize what Georgia wants to be in the future.

Citations my college lit teacher would be ashamed of:

[1] The State Flag of Georgia: The 1956 Change In Its Historical Context, State Senate Research Office http://www.senate.ga.gov/sro/Documents/StudyCommRpts/00StateFlag.pdf

[2] Confederate battle flag: Separating the myths from facts, CNN https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/24/us/confederate-flag-myths-facts/