The flag that Flags of the Confederacy

The flag that is being discussed here was never the official flag of the Confederate States--it was used as a battle flag used by the Tennessee Militia, and it was used as a naval jack--in reality, it has become famous because it was adapted as the official insignia of the States Rights Democratic Party in 1948. They broke away from the Democratic Party on the issue of racial segregation, which they spelled out in the Platform of the States Rights Democratic Party , as follows:

4. 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 learn one's living in any lawful way. We oppose the elimination of segregation, the repeal of miscegenation statutes, the control of private employment by Federal bureaucrats called for by the misnamed civil rights program. We favor home-rule, local self-government and a minimum interference with individual rights.

5. We oppose and condemn the action of the Democratic Convention in sponsoring a civil rights program calling for the elimination of segregation, social equality by Federal fiat, regulations of private employment practices, voting, and local law enforcement.

6. We affirm that the effective enforcement of such a program would be utterly destructive of the social, economic and political life of the Southern people, and of other localities in which there may be differences in race, creed or national origin in appreciable numbers.



It was nothing less than the official symbol of segregation--