After the recent shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, renewed debate has sprung up sounding the display of the Confederate Battle Flag at the South Carolina state building and in other public spaces. I thought it would be useful to create a list of some resources homeschoolers can use to make Confederate Flag lesson plans to teach the history of the Confederate Flag and the debates over its use.
The Essential Civil War Curriculum’s: The Confederate Flag
This is one of the topics in their Civil War Curriculum and provides images of all the different flags used by the Confederacy. It also has a link to ten page PDF essay by John M. Coski from Museum of the Confederacy on the history of the flag and its use as symbols both during and after the war. The essay is a very good summary of the history of the flag and the controversy around it. The site also includes a list of books on the subject for those who are interested. Link
The Atlantic: The Star-Spangled Banner in South Carolina
This piece is much shorter and provides a little of the history of the flag’s use in South Carolina. However, it is not by any means a complete history and in many ways, better serves as an example of some of the beliefs and opinions involved in the debate. Link
The BBC: Why do people still fly the Confederate Flag.
While this is written with a British reader in mind, it still gives an excellent summary of the history of the Confederate Flag, both during and after the war. It also gives good explanations of the current debate and the arguments of both sides. Link
Mississippi History Now: A Brief History of the Confederate Flags
This is a longer, thorough overview of the different Confederate Flags. It focuses more on the development of the Confederate National Flag and debates surrounding them during the war. However, it spends comparatively little time on the use of the flag as a symbol after the war, only talking about it for the last two or three paragraphs. Link
NPR: The Complicated Political History Of The Confederate Flag
This article is mostly about the current debate over the flag in South Carolina. While it does give a bit of a historical background, it spends most of its time summarizing the modern controversy and how the different political actors have responded to the calls for the flag to be brought down in Charleston. Link
