7 state flags still have designs with ties to the Confederacy

Amid the racial justice protests of 2020, when Confederate statues all over the country toppled, Mississippi became the last state to remove the Confederate battle flag from its state flag.

It was a moment of reckoning for the Lost Cause mythology about the Civil War that dominated much of the 20th century, but for visual artist Jason Patterson, the work is not done. Patterson, a 38-year-old Black man whose art focuses on African American history, is a self-professed “flag nerd” (more formally, a “vexillophile”), and his obsession with flags has taught him something few Americans realize: A number of state flags still commemorate — in ways both obvious and oblique — the bloody attempt to create a permanent slave society.

To Patterson, flags aren’t just images. “They are representations of people,” he said. “They can hold so much meaning.”

Not every flag with similarities to the Confederate battle flag has a definitive historical connection to secession or slavery. Three state flags — for Alabama, Florida and Tennessee — contain elements reminiscent of the battle flag and were adopted during the Jim Crow era but otherwise lack historical proof of an intentional link.

But seven state flags, including Maryland’s, have documented links to the Confederacy and white supremacy. Here they are, ranked from least to most obvious.

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