Ted Kaye was interviewed as part of Corinne Segal’s piece yesterday in PBS NewsHour Art Beat, What the Confederate flag’s design says about its legacy.
Some excerpts:
In 1861, the National Flag Committee of the Confederate States of America wrote its official guidelines for flag design:
A flag should be simple, readily made, and capable of being made up in bunting; it should be different from the flag of any other country, place or people; it should be significant; it should be readily distinguishable at a distance; the colors should be well contrasted and durable; and lastly, and not the least important point, it should be effective and handsome.
“It encapsulates in one splendid sentence nearly all the basic principles of flag design,” Kaye said.
. . .
[T]he longest-lasting symbol of the Confederacy originated in the docked ships of a limited Confederate navy, Kaye said. Confederate ships at port frequently hung a naval jack that consisted of the battle flag without the white border.
Surprisingly, this is the one that stuck, Kaye said.
“It’s amusing to flag folks to see people [fly] a rectangular version of the Confederate battle flag without a white outline and say, ‘This is the Confederate flag, I honor my heritage, this is the one that I fly,’ when really, it’s an obscure, second-tier flag associated with the Confederacy,” he said.
. . .
In spite of its history, affinity and familiarity cause many people to describe their attachment to the flag in terms of their heritage, Kaye said. “The problem is, when you fly a flag, no one knows which meaning you’re attributing to it,” he said.
Portland Flag Association 