The Legacy of Confederate Symbols

Selections from The Atlantic’s coverage of the enduring debate over rebel flags and monuments

The white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend was a defining moment in Donald Trump’s presidency. But the event, held in protest of the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, was only a piece of the larger national debate over the legacy of the Civil War and the symbols associated with it.

From the 2015 shooting at Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, which led to protests over the Confederate flag, to the more recent reckoning over secessionist monuments, The Atlantic has wrestled with how these symbols are perceived, and whether Americans should still preserve them.

Here are selections from past coverage of this ongoing debate.

The Long Life of the Civil War

• Ta-Nehisi Coates makes the case for reparations

• David Blight argues that the war is far from over

• David Graham on the persistence of Confederate monuments

• Garrett Epps on the Confederate ghosts of his youth, and how taking down monuments would help America confront its past

• Adam Serwer dismantles the myths surrounding General Robert E. Lee

• David Graham on a Confederate statue’s toppling in Durham, North Carolina

The History of the Confederate Flag

• Joshua Green on the controversy over the Southern Cross on Georgia’s state flag

• Kevin Levin argues that the days of the flag as a symbol of Southern pride are coming to an end

• Yoni Appelbaum on the flag’s midcentury revival

• Megan Garber on the phenomenon of the Confederate flag in pop culture

The Flag’s Future After Charleston

• Ta-Nehisi Coates tells South Carolina to take the banner down from its statehouse

• Ta-Nehisi Coates on what Confederate states valued at the start of the Civil War, in their own words

• Ethan Kytle and Blain Roberts argue Americans should take down the flag, but keep Confederate monuments

The Toppling of Robert E. Lee in New Orleans

• Kevin Levin explains how Lee became a Lost Cause symbol

• David Blight on the battle for Memorial Day in New Orleans

The Protests in Charlottesville

• Matt Thompson contends that the “Unite the White” rally was a pride march

• Vann Newkirk explains how fringe movements can easily turn mainstream

• Jeffrey Goldberg on what Barack Obama could teach Trump about Charlottesville

• Yoni Appelbaum argues that the defense of Confederate monuments will only accelerate their destruction

• Megan Garber asks: Why Charlottesville?

• Rosie Gray on the alt-right’s failed attempt to rebrand

• Matt Ford on the eight Confederate statues found on Capitol Hill

• J.M. Berger on what upcoming events could reveal about the future of white-nationalist extremism

• Emma Green on the rally’s explicit anti-Semitism

• Russell Berman on GOP criticism of Trump’s response to Charlottesville

• Peter Beinart on what Trump gets wrong about antifa

• Julia Ioffe on how white supremacists are radicalized