“What Would Gandhi Do?”: Nikki Haley and South Carolina in American Politics, Black, White, and Brown

Abstract

In 1999 and early 2000, as the turn of the calendar invited historical reflection and the United States entered a presidential election year, the eyes of the nation were drawn to a flag atop the South Carolina State House. For nearly 40 years, the iconic “battle flag” of the Confederate States of America had flown over the capitol dome in Columbia, just below the US and South Carolina flags. It was raised in 1961 to commemorate the centennial of the Battle of Fort Sumter— the onset of the Civil War. Its symbolism became inseparable from the state’s response to the Civil Rights Movement and white defiance in the face of federally enforced desegregation. As the years passed, its presence was a source of ongoing tension and recurring controversy (Prince, 2004).