Over 1,000 Confederate Names and Symbols Exist in U.S.

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Over 1,000 Confederate Names and Symbols Exist in U.S.

May 10th, 2016

Awake Goy

The Confederate flag symbolizes different perspectives of history to different groups of people.

The white supremacist Confederate States of America (CSA; Confederacy) fought a war with the USA to maintain slavery. The CSA lost the war, after which the slaves were freed and slavery prohibited. However, within the U.S. there is a proliferation of symbols that pay homage to the Confederacy in some way. Most of these symbols are in the South.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) conducted a study to list these symbols. Although the list is not comprehensive, the SPLC found at least 1,503 such symbols in public spaces. Included among these are 9 official holidays and other observances in six states; the names of highways, parks, bridges, counties, cities, dams, roads, and other public works. Some other findings of the study are presented below.

At least 109 public schools are named after Confederates icons such as Robert E. Lee, “Stonewall” Jackson, J.E.B. Stuart, and Jefferson Davis. In 27 of those schools, the student populations are over 90% African-American.

There are 718 Confederate monuments and statutes on public property and the vast majority of them are in the South. Three states have far more monuments than others. They are Virginia (96), Georgia (90), and North Carolina (90).

Ten U.S. military bases are named in honor of Confederate military leaders. All of these bases are located in former states of the Confederacy: Alabama (1), Georgia (2), Louisiana (2), North Carolina (1), Texas (1), and Virginia (3).

The Confederate flag is a symbol of regional heritage and pride to many white Southerners; however, to many other people it symbolizes racism, slavery and the oppression of African Americans. Also called the rebel flag, the Southern Cross, or the Dixie flag, the Confederate flag was never the national flag of the CSA: it is a rectangular version of the square battle flag used by the Army of Northern Virginia during the Civil War. The SPLC’s study found the Confederate flag being supported by public funds in nine places in six former Confederate states where it is either flown or represented.

In conducting the study, SPLC researchers used federal, state and private resources, giving preference to governmental sources when possible. Each entry was verified by at least one other source.