Georgia State Flag, 1879-1902
Georgia State Flag, c. 1902-1906
Georgia State Flag, c. 1906-1920 
Georgia State Flag, c. 1920-1956
Georgia State Flag, c. 1956-2001 
Georgia State Flag, c. 2001-2003
Georgia State Flag, Current 
Posted on 03/04/2004 9:22:08 AM PST by WhiskeyPapa
A day after voters overwhelmingly ratified the eighth flag to fly over Georgia, political and business leaders called for an end to hostilities in the 20-year war over which banner should represent the state.
Lacy Hunter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans joins a protest Wednesday at the Capitol. He wanted the 1956 flag as an option.
"The flag debate is now a chapter in history," said state Sen. George Hooks (D-Americus), one of the new flag's designers. "We need to move forward to critical issues we have on the table."
Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young said, "I think you'll find there is a general, across-the-board appeal of this flag, and it's important that we rally around a flag that we can all look up to and respect."
Supporters of the new red-white-and-blue flag, modeled after the first national flag of the Confederacy and a state flag adopted in 1902, had anticipated a much closer vote. Based on some polling, they even feared that it might lose and keep the divisive debate alive.
So Young and others, backed by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, launched a late direct-mail, television and radio campaign to rally supporters for the new flag.
On Tuesday, the new flag trounced by a 3-1 ratio the blue-and-gold banner that flew over Georgia from 2001 until 10 months ago. The new flag carried all 159 Georgia counties by large margins and won across the board with black and white, rural and urban support.
African-American voters said the new flag is a much better choice than its two most recent predecessors because it doesn't include the symbol used by the Confederacy and associated with the Ku Klux Klan.
To devotees of Civil War heritage, the current flag is just as Confederate as the flag that flew from 1956 to 2001.
But on Wednesday, a band of 50 die-hard supporters gathered in front of the state Capitol to declare that they would never surrender in their fight to restore the 1956 flag.
"We do not accept this result as final," said Kenneth Waters, a spokesman for the Georgia Flaggers. "We will keep our anger alive. We shall be grim and unconvinced and wear our bitterness like a medal. And to all of those elected officials that have worked to deny the people of Georgia a fair vote on the 1956 memorial flag, we the flaggers are coming for you."
Another 1956 flag supporter said the quest to restore that banner is turning quixotic.
"History in Georgia is never over, but as a major contentious issue, [the flag debate] is on a major downhill slide," said Rusty Henderson, national political adviser for the Heritage Preservation Association. "I believe the majority of the people are satisfied with what they have now. . . . What they have is truly a Confederate flag."
The first flag of the Confederacy, called the Stars and Bars for its horizontal red and white bars and blue field with a circle of stars, flew in early battles of the Civil War. It was replaced on many fronts by the Cross of St. Andrew because Confederate soldiers in the heat of battle confused the Stars and Bars with the Union flag, which it resembled.
Some Georgia units used versions of the earlier flag that inserted the state coat of arms into the field of stars. All that separates the state's new flag from those banners is the added slogan "In God We Trust."
Hooks came up with the final design after modifying a banner introduced by state Rep. Bobby Franklin (R-Marietta) and after consulting with former President Jimmy Carter on the issue.
It is still not good enough for many supporters of the 1956 flag. The flaggers said they will work to unseat Gov. Sonny Perdue and all legislators who voted to remove the 1956 flag from a proposed three-way flag vote.
Hooks predicted that the issue would change no legislative seats.
"They preach hate, not heritage," Hooks said, showing a GBI report about bloodstained rocks and a plastic snake delivered to his door several years ago. "We gave them heritage."
2) I couldn't resist.
Georgia State Flag, 1879-1902
Georgia State Flag, c. 1902-1906
Georgia State Flag, c. 1906-1920
Georgia State Flag, c. 1920-1956
Georgia State Flag, c. 1956-2001
Georgia State Flag, c. 2001-2003
Georgia State Flag, Current
Thank you for posting those.
I think Governor Perdue handled this issue well, far better than his RAT predecessors, at least.
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