Although the CSA's national flag went through several changes over the years, the flag often associated with the Confederacy — the "Southern Cross" — was never the official flag. Rather, the Southern Cross served as the CSA's battle flag and, in an elongated form, as its naval jack.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Southern governors and legislatures resurrected the long forgotten Confederate battle flag, flying it over state capitols and incorporating its image into state flags. They displayed the Southern Cross as means of protest against the federal government's integration policies. White supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the White Citizens Councils also adopted the battle flag as a symbol of white sovereignty.

Their use of the battle flag — as opposed to the actual CSA national flag — was not an innocent historical error. Leaders chose the "Southern Cross" because it represented militant opposition to black liberation. After all, it was a battle flag — a symbol of war.

In recent years, many Southern states have grappled with their Confederate history — and more specifically with the Southern Cross as a symbol of that history. After a boycott and mass demonstration led by the NAACP, South Carolina legislators voted to remove the flag from atop the state capitol building. In Georgia, Governor Roy E. Barnes recently led a successful effort to change the state flag, which had displayed the battle flag prominently as part of its design. Community leaders in Mississippi are considering a similar change of their state flag now.