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The Confederate Battle Flag has a “newer” use that goes beyond its original use as a Civil War battle flag. During the 1948 Presidential Election, supporters of the States Right Party (aka Southern “Dixiecrats”) resurrected the use of the Confederate Flag to symbolize their support for segregation.

“The explicit use of the Confederate flag as a symbol of segregation became more widespread and more violent after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v Board of Education decision. Southern states resisting federally-mandated integration incorporated the flag into their official symbolism”, to quote from The American Civil War Museum website’s article by John Coski, Civil War historian.

Bringing to current times, probably no one on either side of the Bowman flag issue knows the entire story. Maybe it will never be known. Maybe we will never know the flag’s negative impact on future businesses and new residents. What we do know is that the Virginia Flaggers, going through proper zoning channels, are behind the Confederate Battle Flag flying on Ms. Bowman’s property. The “Flaggers” are behind most, if not all, oversized Confederate flags flown on private property and adjacent to busy highways in Virginia.

“Don’t dare tell me ‘no’. If someone tells me I can’t do something, I’ll do it just to prove them wrong.” Quoting Carolyn Bowman from a July 2012 article referring to her nursery business in the Longwood Small Business Development Center newsletter. So, one thing seems for sure: Prince Edward County probably has a continued fight on their hands. And, with the Virginia Flaggers-sponsored flag on Bowman’s property and their support of her court case, it might be a long one.

I hope not! Please take it down!

Katherine Moody Brooks
Buckingham County