Waving the “White” Flag: Racial Voting Patterns in the 2001 Mississippi Flag Referendum

Debates over displays of the Confederate flag have roiled Southern politics in recent years. Opponents of the flag view it is a symbol of slavery and Jim Crow, and consequently an insult to black Americans and evidence of the refusal of many Southerners to let go of an inglorious past. Supporters of the flag, however, argue that the flag today has no linkage with slavery or Jim Crow, but instead symbolizes Southern heritage and tradition.