Gaines Foster, Department of History chairman and professor, gave a presentation Tuesday night on the history of the Confederate flag to about 70 attendees in the French House Grand Salon. “The debate about the Confederate flag is a debate about the present and the future,” Foster said. Foster said there are three ways to view any flag: through history, through memory and in the present. He described history as the actual historical context of a flag, whereas memory is a contemporary, idealized representation of what the flag stands for. “The South seceded to preserve slavery,” he said, placing the flag in a historical context inseparable from slavery. He said many defenders of the flag argue that it stands for Southern heritage, values and culture. He described this as memory and said it is different from what the flag originally represented. Foster said flags are particularly potent historical symbols, which may be a reason the Confederate flag is still so hotly debated. “The whole purpose of a flag is to rally people,” he said. Foster described the evolution of the flag as a symbol, tracing it from its origins as a Confederacy symbol through its later ceremonial use and eventually to its commercialization. Foster’s presentation was part of a series sponsored by the Summer Reading Program. According to Granger Babcock, dean of the Honors College and member of the Summer Reading Program Selection Committee, this past year’s protests of the purple-and-gold Confederate flag on campus influenced the committee’s decision to choose this year’s book, “Life on the Color Line.” “The committee was cognizant of what was going on,” he said. Chris Childers, graduate history student, said the presentation exposed him to views of the flag with which he was previously unfamiliar. “I’ve never seen what the fuss was about,” he said. Childers said he could empathize with those who defend the Confederate flag, explaining that he might feel the same way if others disrespected the American flag. He also said Foster explained the significance of flags well. “I understand the idea of a flag as a living symbol,” Childers said.
—–Contact Daniel McBride at [email protected]