Flag of Trenton, Georgia

Last updated
Flag of Trenton, Georgia
Flag of Trenton, Georgia.svg
Use City flag
Adopted2001
The former Georgia state flag (1956-2001) Flag of the State of Georgia (1956-2001).svg
The former Georgia state flag (1956–2001)

The city flag of Trenton, Georgia, United States, was adopted in 2001 as a protest following the change of the state flag of Georgia. The flag has been controversial because it incorporates the Confederate Battle Flag.

Contents

History

In 1956, the state of Georgia changed its flag to largely feature the Confederate battle flag as part of a protest against desegregation. [1] In 2001, the Georgia General Assembly voted to change the flag, relegating the location of the Confederate flag to a greatly reduced place on the state flag. The city of Trenton opposed this new flag. In the same year, the city's commissioners voted to adopt the former state flag as the city's flag as a protest, which became official in 2002. [2] The State of Georgia had stated that it would withdraw funding for any municipality that refused to fly the new state flag and continued to fly the old one. [3] Trenton circumvented this when they adopted the flag by altering the former state flag by adding "City of Trenton" and "Incorporated 1854" to it. It also flew the new Georgia state flag and the flag of the United States along with the city flag in keeping with the state regulations. [3]

The change was not universally supported, and in 2004 the new mayor of Trenton, Anthony Emanuel, removed it. However, following objections from the Sons of Confederate Veterans that the flag represented their heritage, [4] a referendum was held in 2005. The city's residents voted 278–64 to keep the city flag with the confederate emblem. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trenton, Georgia</span> City in Georgia, United States

Trenton is a city and the only incorporated municipality in Dade County, Georgia, United States—and as such, it serves as the county seat. The population was 2,195 at the 2020 census. Trenton is part of the Chattanooga, Tennessee–GA Metropolitan Statistical Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Alabama</span>

The current flag of Alabama was adopted by Act 383 of the Alabama Legislature on February 16, 1895:

"The flag of the State of Alabama shall be a crimson cross of St. Andrew on a field of white. The bars forming the cross shall be not less than six inches broad, and must extend diagonally across the flag from side to side." – (Code 1896, §3751; Code 1907, §2058; Code 1923, §2995; Code 1940, T. 55, §5.)

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern United States</span> One of the four census regions of the US

The Southern United States, sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean and the Western United States, with the Midwestern and Northeastern United States to its north and the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico to its south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flags of the Confederate States of America</span> National flag

The flags of the Confederate States of America have a history of three successive designs during the American Civil War. The flags were known as the "Stars and Bars", used from 1861 to 1863; the "Stainless Banner", used from 1863 to 1865; and the "Blood-Stained Banner", used in 1865 shortly before the Confederacy's dissolution. A rejected national flag design was also used as a battle flag by the Confederate Army and featured in the "Stainless Banner" and "Blood-Stained Banner" designs. Although this design was never a national flag, it is the most commonly recognized symbol of the Confederacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Georgia (U.S. state)</span> Flag of the state of Georgia, US

The flag of Georgia is the flag of the U.S. state of Georgia. Its current iteration was adopted on February 19, 2003. The flag bears three horizontal stripes and features a blue canton containing a ring of 13 white stars that encircle the state's gold-colored coat of arms. The ring of stars that encompass the state's coat of arms represents Georgia as one of the original Thirteen Colonies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonny Perdue</span> American politician (born 1946)

George Ervin "Sonny" Perdue III is an American politician and businessman who served as the 31st United States secretary of agriculture from 2017 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 81st governor of Georgia from 2003 to 2011 and as a member of the Georgia State Senate from 1991 to 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Florida</span> State flag of Florida

The flag of Florida consists of a red saltire on a white background, with the state seal superimposed on the center. The flag's current design has been in use since May 21, 1985, after the design of the Florida state seal was graphically improved and officially sanctioned for use by state officials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Mississippi</span> Flag of the US state of Mississippi

The flag of Mississippi consists of a white magnolia blossom surrounded by 21 stars and the words 'In God We Trust' written below, all put over a blue Canadian pale with two vertical gold borders on a red field. The topmost star is composed of a pattern of five diamonds, an Indigenous symbol; the other 20 stars are white, as Mississippi was the 20th state to join the Union. The flag was adopted on January 11, 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sons of Confederate Veterans</span> American neo-Confederate organization

The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is an American neo-Confederate nonprofit organization of male descendants of Confederate soldiers that commemorates these ancestors, funds and dedicates monuments to them, and promotes the pseudohistorical Lost Cause ideology and corresponding white supremacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Utah's Dixie</span> Cultural region of the U.S. state of Utah

Dixie is a nickname for the populated, lower-elevation area of south-central Washington County, the southwest corner of the State of Utah. The area lies in the northeastern Mojave Desert, south of Black Ridge and west of the Hurricane Cliffs. Its winter climate is significantly more mild than the rest of Utah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dixie (song)</span> Popular mid-19th century American minstrel song

"Dixie", also known as "Dixie's Land", "I Wish I Was in Dixie", and other titles, is a song about the Southern United States first made in 1859. It is one of the most distinctively Southern musical products of the 19th century. It was not a folk song at its creation, but it has since entered the American folk vernacular. The song likely rooted the word "Dixie" in the American vocabulary as a nickname for the Southern U.S.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kasim Reed</span> American politician and former mayor of Atlanta, Georgia

Mohammed Kasim Reed is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 59th mayor of Atlanta, Georgia's state capital and largest city, from 2010 to 2018. A Democrat, Reed was a member of the Georgia House of Representatives from 1998 to 2002 and represented the 35th District in the Georgia State Senate from 2003 to 2009. He served as campaign manager for Shirley Franklin's successful Atlanta mayoral campaign in 2001. After Franklin was term limited from the mayor's office, Reed successfully ran for the position in 2009. Inaugurated on January 4, 2010, Reed was elected to a second term in 2013.

Confederate monuments and memorials in the United States include public displays and symbols of the Confederate States of America (CSA), Confederate leaders, or Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War. Many monuments and memorials have been or will be removed under great controversy. Part of the commemoration of the American Civil War, these symbols include monuments and statues, flags, holidays and other observances, and the names of schools, roads, parks, bridges, buildings, counties, cities, lakes, dams, military bases, and other public structures. In a December 2018 special report, Smithsonian Magazine stated, "over the past ten years, taxpayers have directed at least $40 million to Confederate monuments—statues, homes, parks, museums, libraries, and cemeteries—and to Confederate heritage organizations."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modern display of the Confederate battle flag</span>

Although the Confederate States of America dissolved at the end of the American Civil War (1861–1865), its battle flag continues to be displayed as a symbol. The modern display began during the 1948 United States presidential election when it was used by the Dixiecrats, southern Democrats that opposed civil rights for African Americans. Further display of the flag was a response to the civil rights movement and the passage of federal civil rights laws in the 1950s and 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials</span> Ongoing development in the United States

There are more than 160 monuments and memorials to the Confederate States of America and associated figures that have been removed from public spaces in the United States, all but five of which have been since 2015. Some have been removed by state and local governments; others have been torn down by protestors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flaggers (movement)</span> Neo-Confederate group

Flaggers is a type of neo-Confederate activist group active in the Southern United States. Flaggers usually operate at the state level. Their primary purpose is to make the Confederate battle flag as visible as possible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2001 Mississippi flag referendum</span>

The 2001 Mississippi flag referendum was a legislatively referred state statute appearing on an April 17, 2001 special election ballot, an election held specifically for this referendum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 Mississippi flag referendum</span>

The 2020 Mississippi flag referendum was a legislatively referred state statute appearing on the November 3, 2020 general election ballot in Mississippi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2004 Georgia flag referendum</span> Referendum adopting a new flag design

The 2004 Georgia flag referendum was a legislatively referred advisory referendum in Georgia. It took place on March 2, 2004, alongside the state's presidential primaries. The result was overwhelmingly in favor of the 2003 flag, which gained 73.1% of the vote.

References

  1. Azarian, Alexander; Fesshazion, Eden (August 2000). "The State Flag of Georgia: The 1956 Change In Its Historical Context" (PDF). Senate Research Office. State of Georgia: State of Georgia. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 4, 2014. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  2. "Confederate banner still flying high in Trenton, Ga". Times Free Press. 26 June 2015. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  3. 1 2 "Trenton's Flag Loophole". Atlanta Journal-Constitution (archived at Dixie Outfitters). Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  4. "SCV Tries to Save Trenton". WDEF-TV News 12 (archived at Dixie Outfitters). 2005-01-18. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  5. Magee, David (2007). The South is Round . Jefferson Press. p.  83. ISBN   978-0977808625.