The Confederate Battle Flag, Texas High Schools
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SCHOOL SPIRIT OR SCHOOL HATE: THE CONFEDERATE BATTLE FLAG, TEXAS HIGH SCHOOLS, AND MEMORY, 1953-2002 Perry Dirickson, B. S. Thesis Prepared for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS December 2006 APPROVED: Elizabeth Hayes Turner, Major Professor Richard B. McCaslin, Committee Member D. Harland Hagler, Committee Member Adrian Lewis, Chair of the Department of History Sandra L. Terrell, Dean of the Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies Dirickson, Perry. School Spirit or School Hate: The Confederate Battle Flag, Texas High Schools, and Memory, 1953-2002. Master of Arts (History), December 2006, 188 pp., 14 figures, references, 124 titles. The debate over the display of the Confederate battle flag in public places throughout the South focus on the flag’s display by state governments such South Carolina and Mississippi. The state of Texas is rarely placed in this debate, and neither has the debate adequately explore the role of high schools’ use of Confederate symbols. Schools represent the community and serve as a symbol of its values. A school represented by Confederate symbols can communicate a message of intolerance to a rival community or opposing school during sports contests. Within the community, conflict arose when an opposition group to the symbols formed and asked for the symbols’ removal in favor of symbols that were seen more acceptable by outside observers. Many times, an outside party needed to step in to resolve the conflict. In Texas, the conflict between those in favor and those oppose centered on the Confederate battle flag, and the memory each side associated with the flag. Anglos saw the flag as their school spirit. African Americans saw hatred. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS............................................................................................iii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1 2. FLAG SYMBOLISM ................................................................................. 8 3. RAISING SCHOOL SYMBOLS ON SOUTHERN MEMORY ................. 37 4. THE CONFEDERATE FLAG AND BLACK MEMORY........................... 79 5. CONFLICT IN BLACK AND WHITE .................................................... 105 6. CONCLUSION..................................................................................... 153 Appendix A. SCHOOLS WITH CONFEDERATE SYMBOLS................................... 159 B. SCHOOLS WITH OR CHANGED CONFEDERATE MASCOTS ......... 161 C. SCHOOLS WITH NON-CONFEDERATE MASCOT............................ 163 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................... 165 ii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Page 2.1 Bonnie Blue Flag .............................................................................................. 11 2.2 Stars And Bars ................................................................................................. 12 2.3 Stainless Banner .............................................................................................. 13 2.4 Modified Stainless Banner................................................................................ 16 2.5 The Army Of Northern Virginia Battle Flag ....................................................... 16 2.6 The Confederate Battle Flag ............................................................................ 18 3.1 Richland High School’s 1962 Yearbook Cover................................................. 57 3.2 Richland High School’s 1967 Yearbook Cover................................................. 57 3.3 The South Garland Colonel Flag ...................................................................... 60 3.4 South Garland Libertas..................................................................................... 60 3.5 The Cover of 1975 Buda Hays High School Yearbook..................................... 64 3.6 Fort Worth Southwest’s “Yosemite Sam” Rebel Mascot................................... 66 5.1 Amarillo Tascosa’s Rebel Kid and Current Flag ............................................. 123 5.2 Buda John C. Hays’ Rebel Mascot Painting ................................................... 152 iii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Is Texas part of the West or the South? This question, posed by Frank E. Vandiver, was as significant thirty-years ago as it is today. Many did not believe that Texas was ever a southern state in the 1970s or even now. The image of the cowboy riding the range in Texas has long endured in myth. Personified in the legendary screen presence of John Wayne, the connection of the West with Texas has lived in the minds of moviegoers thanks to films and television series rebroadcast on stations such as TV Land, American Movie Classics, and Turner Classic Movies. The connection was not wrong because Texas had many western traits such as ranching, oil wells, and the Alamo in its history. It had its share of legendary bandits, outlaws, desperados, lawmen, and, of course, the Texas Rangers. According to Vandiver, the cowboy myth of Texas owed much to the Cavalier myth in the Old South. Trail songs spoke of a southern heritage and harkened back to folksongs of Old England.1 The idea of Texas as a western state is firmly planted in the minds of most American as well as most Texans. The Stetson hats and cowboy boots have become synonymous with Texas as iconic symbols. Another pert of the state’s history is southern. This explains the Confederate flags seen in the high school football stadiums 1 Frank E. Vandiver, The Southwest: South or West? (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1975), 34-40; Sean Kelly, “Plantation Frontiers: Race, Ethnicity, and Family Along the Brazos River in Texas, 1821-1886” (Ph. D. diss., University of Texas at Austin, 2000), 4. 1 around the state during the years from 1953-2002. Texans were just as proud of their southern heritage as their western heritage. As early as 1862, the editors of the Dallas Herald placed under their title the words, “Our Country-May she always be right, but right or wrong-Our Country.”2 The “Country” spoken of in the paper was not the United States of America, but the Confederate States of America. Texans have had a love affair with the Confederacy from its infancy, but not all Texans shared in this glorification of southern history. Black Texans did not honor the southern roots in the same way white southerners did; they saw southern symbols, such as the Confederate battle flag, as racist. Conflict did arise at the schools after integration. When the schools developed their symbols, they were all-white, but with integration, conflict between white and black students over the memory associated with Confederate symbols created a disruption of the learning environment that forced the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to intervene to resolve the conflict. The focal point of contention at the schools was the Confederate battle flag. The flag was a spirit symbol used by certain high schools in order to help students develop school spirit and identity. With the flag’s connection to hate groups, however, most black students saw the flag as a symbol of racism, while most white students connected the flag with their ancestors and the Civil War. The second chapter of this study discusses the differing interpretations of the Confederate battle flag. One interpretation addresses the flag’s historical meaning. The Confederate battle flag did not fall from the sky as a holy relic but was developed out of a sense of urgency during the Civil War to help identify Confederate troops in 2 Dallas Herald, 6 September 1862, p. 1. 2 battle. The second interpretation of the battle flag is the heritage interpretation. Many southern whites claim the flag represents their ancestors, their history. The flag is a flag of honor. This explanation is mostly voiced by the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) and the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). The third interpretation is the racist interpretation. This understanding is advocated by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and many African Americans. This group sees the Confederate States of America as a country founded on the tenets of slavery and white supremacy. The fourth interpretation is that the Confederate battle flag stands for rebellion against authority in general. This interpretation has gained support with younger generations as well as with people from other parts of the world. This group does not associate the flag with racism or heritage. To them, the flag is an expression of defiance against the higher powers. The third chapter discusses the development of the symbol at the high school in Texas, white memory of the flag, and possible influences on the students for choosing the Confederate battle flag. The symbols were not chosen in a vacuum. There were influences that affected their choice by the students. Those influences included novels, movies, cartoons, parents, and the SCV and UDC. The novels include Thomas Dixon’s historical interpretations of the Civil War and Reconstruction. They paint a positive light on the Klan and southern history. These novels were heavily influenced by the Lost Cause ideology developed by the UDC and SCV. These patriotic organizations believed in teaching the true history of the South and of the Civil War. By their lights, the war was over states’ rights, and slavery was a benign institution. The UDC also embarked on textbook censorship that influenced the understanding