Confederate flag finally removed from South Carolina state capitol

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It comes down almost a month after racist shooting of nine churchgoers
Shooter Dylann Roof proudly displayed Confederate plates on his car
The rebel flag was raised on state ground more than 50 years ago
Crowds swarmed around the state capitol chanting 'take it down!'
President Obama congratulated South Carolina on Twitter

Published: 09:06 EST, 10 July 2015 | Updated: 15:22 EST, 10 July 2015

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The Confederate battle flag, a symbol of both racism and southern pride, has been removed from the South Carolina state capitol grounds.

It comes 23 days after the racist shooting of nine black churchgoers in the state's city of Charleston, by a 21-year-old who proudly displayed the rebel flag.

Shortly after 10am on Friday, more than 50 years after it was raised on state grounds at the height of the US civil rights movement, it was quietly lowered.

Crowds who came in their droves to watch the ceremony swarmed around the state capitol chanting 'take it down!'

It was then folded up and placed in an armored vehicle bound for the 'relic room' of a military museum in the state capital of Columbia. It will reside with other artifacts carried by southern Confederate soldiers 150 years ago.

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The Confederate battle flag, a symbol of both racism and southern pride, being removed from the South Carolina state capitol grounds on Friday, 23 days after the racist shooting by a pro-Confederacy 21-year-old

It comes more than 50 years after it was raised on state grounds at the height of the US civil rights movement

Crowds packed into the square to get a glimpse of the historic moment shortly after 10am Eastern Time

Historic artifact: It will be moved to the 'relic room' of a military museum in the state capital of Columbia to reside with other artifacts carried by southern Confederate soldiers 150 years ago

The ceremony came after Governor Nikki Haley signed a law on Thursday ordering the flag's removal

Two officers untied the flag before performing the formal procedure of folding up the historic banner

Thousands watched on the grounds, and millions more on television, as the flag was rolled

It was then tied with string and taken to an armored van to be delivered to the museum

South Carolina State Police honor guard after lowering the Confederate flag for the last time

Haley called for the flag's relocation shortly after the killing of nine black worshippers during a Bible study session on June 17 at a historic black church in Charleston. Here troopers are pictured before the lowering

Confederate flag falls from South Carolina state capitol

The crowd chanted 'USA, USA' and 'hey, hey, hey, goodbye' as an honor guard of South Carolina troopers lowered the flag during a 6-minute ceremony.

Gov. Nikki Haley stood on the Statehouse steps along with family members of the victims and other dignitaries. While she didn't speak, she nodded and smiled in the direction of the crowd after someone shouted: 'Thank you governor.'

As she looked on, two troopers rolled the flag and tied it up with a string. They handed it to a black trooper who brought it to the Statehouse steps. When the trooper handed it to a state archivist, the governor clapped.

The honor guard who took the flag down was the same group of men who carried Pinckney's coffin into the Statehouse for a viewing last month.

Later, the flagpole was also knocked down to remove all trace of the Confederacy from the capitol grounds.

The President led applause for the ceremony, tweeting: 'South Carolina taking down the confederate flag - a signal of good will and healing, and a meaningful step towards a better future.'

During his eulogy for one of the shooting victims, Rev Clementa Pinckney, he challenged the flag's defenders.

South Carolina Confederate flag heads to the relic room

Relieved: Gov Nikki Haley held hands with numerous civil rights figures as it came down

A crowd cheers after the Confederate 'Stars and Bars' flag was lowered

People sing 'hey hey hey goodbye' as they stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the packed square

A girl watches in the crowd with patriotic colors in her hair

Prominent civil rights figure Rev Jesse Jackson waves a Star Spangled Banner with joy at the ceremony

A man waves a U.S. flag as the Confederate battle flag is permanently removed

Some weren't so happy with the move and stood among the crowd decked out in Confederate merchandise

An honor guard member from the South Carolina Highway Patrol hands the Confederate battle flag that flew in front of the Statehouse to the curator of the Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum

People watch from an office building next to the now-bare flag pole

THE HISTORY BEHIND THE FLAG

The 150-year-old flag was originally used as a Civil War battle flag by the seven slave states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas) that broke away from the Union in 1861.

Due to the racist policies of those states, many calling for the flag's removal say it symbolizes hatred and white supremacy.

It gained its modern meaning from the 1950s onwards when it was used in opposition to the Civil Rights movement that sought to end segregation and create equal right for blacks.

In 1962, when the civil rights movement was cresting and the president was putting pressure on the south to end segregation, South Carolina proudly flew the flag in protest.

'For many, black and white, that flag was a reminder of systemic oppression and racial subjugation. We see that now,' he said.

Taking it down, he said, would acknowledge that fighting to defend slavery was wrong.

Civil rights leaders and activists who attended the ceremony and described the move as symbolic and emotional.

Rep John Lewis, who was heavily beaten while trying to cross the bridge in Selma in 1965, told MSNBC: 'I must tell you, I was deeply moved, almost moved to tears, as I was watching MSNBC this morning and saw the flag coming down, a biracial group of state troopers bringing the flag down.

'And I saw what was happening in Columbia, S.C., and I teared up. They did the right thing.'

A van brought the flag to the nearby Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum. There, it eventually will be housed in a multimillion-dollar shrine lawmakers promised to build as part of a deal to get a bill passed removing the flag.

'It's a great day in South Carolina,' the state's Republican Governor Nikki Haley said on Friday in an interview before the ceremony with NBC's Today show.

As she signed the legislation to remove the Confederate flag on Thursday, Haley said: 'We will bring it down with dignity.'

Haley called for the flag's relocation shortly after the killing of nine black worshippers during a Bible study session on June 17 at a historic black church in Charleston.

'I'm thinking of those nine people today,' Haley said on Today.

The white man charged in the killings, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, appeared in photographs posing with a Confederate flag that surfaced on a website bearing a racist manifesto.

The image spurred politicians and leading national retailers to pull the flag from display.

Confederate flag spends final hours at SC statehouse

The curator carried the rolled-up flag with both hands as he walked it to an armored vehicle

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, fourth from left, and her staff look out from the Capitol building as media and citizens gather to witness the removal of the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds in Columbia, SC

People cheer and chant 'USA! USA!' with signs celebrating the end of an era as the fly is taken away

Crowds who came in their droves to watch the ceremony swarmed around the capitol chanting 'take it down!'

The Confederate battle flag is a symbol of both racism and southern pride. Here an artist outside the South Carolina state house paints a black soldier over the flag to highlight its significance

In South Carolina, the first state to secede during the 1861-1865 U.S. Civil War, this week's debate in the state legislature brought an emotional closure to a symbol long divisive in the state.

The Confederate flag waved atop the state capitol from 1961 to 2000, when it was moved to a Confederate war memorial near the State House entrance.

'In South Carolina we honor tradition, we honor history, we honor heritage. But there's a place for that flag and that flag needs to be in a museum, where we will continue to make sure that people can honor it appropriately,' Haley said on 'Today.'

'But the statehouse - that's an area that belongs to everyone,' she added. 'No one should drive by the statehouse and feel pain, no one should ever drive by the statehouse and feel like they don't belong.'

The Confederate flag's days as a public symbol - a flag or a state emblem - are coming to an end with the passage of Thursday's law, said Carole Emberton, Civil War expert at the University at Buffalo.

'Will people still wear the symbol on their T-shirts or fly it from their homes? Sure they will. But as far as this flag symbolizing a state or local government, that day is over.'

Due to the racist policies of those states, many calling for the flag's removal say it symbolizes hatred and white supremacy.

It gained its modern meaning from the 1950s onwards when it was used in opposition to the Civil Rights movement that sought to end segregation and create equal right for blacks.

In 1962, when the civil rights movement was cresting and the president was putting pressure on the south to end segregation, South Carolina proudly flew the flag in protest.

SC Republican Rep delivers emotional speech in flag debate