Sterling Silver Charm of Georgia

Twenty-first century adherents of the 1956 flag claimed that the flag was designed to commemorate the upcoming Civil War Centennial five years away.[3] Critics, including Georgia Congressman John Lewis, assert it was only adopted as a symbol of racist protest, especially against the decision of Brown v. Board of Education.[4] A federal appeals court noted in 1997 that the 1956 resolution changing the flag was part of a larger legislative package that year from the Georgia General Assembly which included bills rejecting Brown v. Board and following up on then-Governor Marvin Griffin's announcement that "The rest of the nation is looking to Georgia for the lead in segregation."

Political pressure for a change in the official state flag increased during the 1990s, in particular during the run-up to the 1996 Olympic Games that were held in Atlanta. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) focused on the Georgia flag as a major issue and some business leaders in Georgia felt that the perceptions of the flag were causing economic harm to the state. In 1992, Governor Zell Miller announced his intention to get the battle flag element removed, but the state legislature refused to pass any flag-modifying legislation. The matter was dropped after the 1993 legislative session. Many Atlanta residents and some Georgia politicians refused to fly the 1956 flag and flew the pre-1956 flag instead.

Miller's successor as Governor, Roy Barnes, responded to the increasing calls for a new state flag, and in 2001 quickly hurried a replacement through the Georgia General Assembly under howls of protest. His new flag sought a compromise, by featuring small versions of some (but not all) of Georgia's former flags, including the controversial 1956 flag, under the words "Georgia's History." Those flags are the original thirteen-star Betsy Ross U.S. flag; the first Georgia flag (before 1879); the 1920–1956 Georgia flag; the previous state flag (1956–2001); and the current fifty-star U.S. flag.

The 2001 flag, intended to be less offensive, never gained popularity amongst Georgians. It was perceived as having been "designed by a committee," and was aesthetically complicated, crowded with many small elements. In a 2001 survey on state and provincial flags in North America conducted by the North American Vexillological Association, the redesigned Georgia flag was ranked the worst by a wide margin; the group stated that the flag "violates all the principles of good flag design."

Current flag

In 2002, Sonny Perdue was elected Governor of Georgia, partially on a platform of allowing Georgians to choose their own flag in a state referendum. Perdue disappointed many supporters of the 1956 flag by not pursuing a referendum on the version they favored and instead allowed the Georgia legislature to draft a new flag in 2003.

The General Assembly's proposed flag combined elements of Georgia's previous flags, creating a composition that was inspired by the Confederate First National flag, the Stars and Bars, rather than the Confederate Battle Flag. Perdue signed the legislation into law on May 8, 2003.

The 2003 flag legislation also authorized a public referendum on which of the two most recent flags (the 2001 and 2003 versions) would be officially adopted as the flag of the state. The referendum took place during the state's March 2, 2004 presidential primary election. Some heritage groups and protesters known as "flaggers," angry with Governor Perdue because the 1956 flag had not been included in the choices, called for a boycott of the vote. If the 2003 flag was rejected, the pre-2001 design would have been put to a vote.[8] The 2003 design won 73.1% of the vote in the referendum.[9]

While the new state flag uses elements of the 1879, 1902, 1906, and 1920 state flags, those flags were similar to the first official flag of the Confederate States of America (see Flags of the Confederate States of America). Though the 1956–2001 flag contained the more widely recognized battle flag, the current flag resembles the first official Confederate flag ("The Stars and Bars"), except that a variant of the Georgia state seal replaces the seven stars in the blue background.