The Lost Cause of the 'Fighting Rebels' of South Dade High School

In 1967, as part of an attempt to desegregate public schools in Miami-Dade County, Florida, African-American students from Mays High School in Goulds were bused to the all-white, South Dade High School. They entered a school, where Lost Cause imagery was pervasive. The school mascot was a Confederate soldier, the team name the “Rebels” and students proudly flew Confederate flags during football games. The marching band wore tilted Confederate caps and gray Confederate uniforms.

Former mayor Otis T. Wallace recalled, that, “At football games, the team would run through paper banners that had murals of blacks being hung painted on them.”

Black families immediately protested by requesting that federal authorities withhold $4 million dollars in aid until the school banned the Confederate imagery. These changes were eventually instituted by the early 1970s.

This post was prompted by the video below, which was just uploaded to YouTube. I highly recommend watching it.

It is interesting to listen to the white parents and students who feign ignorance as to the true meaning of the flag and their embrace of the legacy of the Confederacy. The school was established in 1953. It is likely that that decision to incorporate Confederate imagery had some connection to the beginning of “massive resistance” following Brown v. Board of Ed. in 1954.

But what I really want to focus on is the response of the African-American community. There is a tendency today to suggest that the current debate over Confederate monuments and flags is a recent development, instigated by groups like Black Lives Matter.

This video is a reminder that these symbols have always been controversial. Black Americans have never been confused about the meaning of these symbols and they have always used whatever means at their disposal to say it and call for change.