#Bonnie Berman

[federer7]

Bonnie Berman. 1983

Photo: Patrick Demarchelier

[chicinsilk]

US Vogue March 1983

Bonnie Berman wears a black cashmere/silk knit with a potfolie skirt in the finest wool gabardine, sewn at the waist, held at the hip by Velcro, very narrow, but easy to put on. By Zoran. Tights, Geoffrey Beene for Bonnie Doon, pumps, La Marca. Hair, Christiaan, makeup Wesley Dunn.

Bonnie Berman porte un tricot noir cachemire/soie avec une jupe potefeuille en gabardine de laine la plus fine, cousue à la taille, retenue à la hanche par Velcro, très étroite, mais facile à enfiler. Par Zoran. Collants, Geoffrey Beene pour Bonnie Doon, escarpins, La Marca. Coiffure, Christiaan, maquillage Wesley Dunn.

Photo Arthur Elgort vogue archive

[oldtimesnew]

Vogue Editorial shot by Jean Pagliuso, 1984

Bonnie Berman

[forcedfemme-me]

Bonnie Berman by Albert Watson for Vogue Italia January 1984 - Gianni Versace

[blocodeespantamentos]

I'm gonna shine out in the wild kindness And hold the world to its word

[sinceileftyoublog]

Cassie Berman, Styrofoam Winos, & DAR Live Preview: 8/18, Sleeping Village, Chicago

Styrofoam Winos

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Sunday night at Sleeping Village will feature its fair share of Chicago, Nashville, and "Kentuckiana" pride.

First and foremost is none other than Cassie Berman, of Silver Jews fame and the ex-wife of the late, great David Berman. During her time with Silver Jews, Cassie contributed vocals and bass to the band's three Aughts LPs, Bright Flight (2001), Tanglewood Numbers (2005), and Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea (2008). Her relationship with Chicago and Drag City, though, goes back into the 90s via her collaborations with David Pajo, playing bass as part of his Aerial M and Papa M monikers. On Sunday, Berman will be playing some new solo material (!) along with a few Silver Jews songs, and she'll be accompanied by New Radiant Storm King vocalist Peyton Pinkerton, who himself played guitar on Silver Jews' 1996 sophomore record The Natural Bridge. Though Berman doesn't have much solo recorded material to her name, she did cover American Water opus "The Wild Kindness" with David's longtime labelmates Bill Callahan and Bonnie "Prince" Billy on their collaborative Blind Date Party album. Perhaps that'll be one of the Silver Jews cuts she performs on Sunday? Or maybe some that the former Silver Jews bandmates and Will Oldham played last Saturday?

The other two acts are both representatives of Jeffersonville, Indiana label Sophomore Lounge. You may have heard the Nashville-based Styrofoam Winos on MJ Lenderman's And the Wind (Live and Loose!) album released last year, joining him to cover Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin's country ballad "Long Black Veil" (originally recorded by Lefty Frizzell). The trio of Lou Turner, Trevor Nikrant, and Joe Kenkel so far has a few releases to their name, including an underrated self-titled record and a Michael Hurley covers album. In September, they'll drop their second album for Sophomore Lounge, entitled Real Time; so far, they've released the strutting, bluesy "Don't Mind Me". Live, as on record, the band switches off vocal and instrumental duties, maintaining their rollicking choogle punk the whole time.

Rounding it all out is Chicago-via-Louisville multi-instrumentalist Aaron Osbourne, who records as DAR. He's released two records on Sophomore Lounge, 2020's Where the Future Lives and March's A Slightly Larger Head. DAR's latest is a bedroom rock heartbreak record whose sound extends beyond the confines of its guitar, toy piano, drum machine, and digital brass soundscapes. More importantly, Osbourne does not wallow in a state of navel-gazing but rather finds unlikely hope stemming from the nadirs of life. Listeners should certainly be curious as to how he will adapt the album's varied sound to the live stage.

[fangedbrbiemoved1]

updated tags pt 4!

˖ ♛       dynamic     »      (  nick goode; ncxile  )

˖ ♛       dynamic     »      (  noa byers; racointeur  )

˖ ♛       dynamic     »      (  ziggy berman; ziggytm  )

˖ ♛       dynamic    »       (  bonnie bennett; townwxtch  )

˖ ♛       dynamic     »      (  sean diaz; wlfhoodie  )

˖ ♛       dynamic     »      (  rachel amber; r4chelamber   )

˖ ♛       dynamic     »      (  bill denbrough; racointeur  )

˖ ♛       dynamic     »      (  enjolras; republicing )

˖ ♛       dynamic     »      (  kate schmidt; kschmidts  )

˖ ♛       dynamic     »      (  liz forbes  )

˖ ♛       dynamic     »      (  bill forbes  )

˖ ♛       dynamic     »      (  enzo st john; throughagraylense  )

˖ ♛       dynamic     »      (  mike wheeler; mikewheelertm  )

[alcalavicci]

Dean impressions from Dancing on the Edge:

When Russ met Dean on the set of The Boy with Green Hair, Dean was a high-energy kid who hated attention and was learning how to play the drums

Dean asked Russ if he could bring Wallace Berman and his wife to a party he was having. Thinking he meant the comedian Alice Berman, Russ said yes but was shocked by this weird mute guy who didn't say a word at his party.

One time, Russ was hanging out with four other former child actors (Dean, Billy Gray, Bobby Driscoll and Robert Blake). Talking about that day years later, Blake said they were a bunch of drowning puppies going down the rapids while hanging onto a lifeboat together. Says a lot, doesn't it?

Russ described Dean as intelligent, intuitive and practical- Jack Hirschman said as much too. Both said that Dean would help other people out as well. It's interesting that Russ says Dean was dedicated to his career and never dropped out unlike Russ, but that's not how Dean saw his career during this time, according to interviews. I think Russ was more significantly dropped out than Dean, however.

The Last Movie: Russ and Dean, along with Billy Gray, got to see Machu Picchu on their days off, but poor Billy got lost and missed the last scenes to be filmed.

Dean invited Russ to be in Another Day at the Races (which was apparently a spoof of the Marx Brothers classic A Day at the Races), but the title was changed to Win, Place or Steal. Apparently the movie was already kind of darkly lit in the original print too and got bad reviews at the time.

Jack, Russ and Dean all liked puns - that came from Wallace.

Russ' second wife, Elizabeth, had major problems with drinking and he eventually left her because she refused to get help for her problem. Dean was incredibly supportive to Russ during this time. Elizabeth ended up drinking herself to death five years after they got divorced. Must've been so heartbreaking to Russ to see Dean struggling like Elizabeth did near the end of his life.

Between Dennis, Dean and Russ, Russ could be trusted to come back with a full order of cocaine because he was allergic to it. So Dennis would ask him to pick up cocaine for him.

Russ says Dean was dating this woman in summer 1980. Interesting, Dean must've been just friends with Joy until the year or so before they got married. But this woman, Valerie Valente, is important because she invited Dean and Russ to her friend Bonnie's show, and Russ ended up married to Bonnie.

Russ does mention Dean meeting Joy and falling in love fast but I get the impression Russ didn't know about them keeping in touch for a few years. Russ said he needed to move out fast so Joy could move in after they got engaged (? my impression). I wonder if there was any overlap between Valerie and Joy...

Dean was the one who recommended Russ to the producers for his Quantum Leap episode- he didn't even have to audition!

The Wallace stories in this are also amazing so I'd definitely recommend reading this book for them as well.

[exitiumhq]

✧ ━ rise above the flames, the enemy is at the gates ━ ✧

hi everybody! we still have a few positions to be filled in order to organize our supernatural council and beneath the cut are the current standings for the leaders of the factions

Banshees:

Theodora Berman

Dragons:

Caius Argyle

Dryads:

Imogen Fen

Fairies:

Indigo Brooks

Lysander Song

Ilarya Lavere

Meredith Keating

Humans/Hunters Resistance:

Jordyn Reine

Hybrids:

Briggs Mikaelson

Klaus Mikaelson

Vampires:

Rebekah Mikaelson

Werewolves:

Hayley Marshall Kenner

Oliver Reine

Witches:

Freya Mikaelson

Bonnie Bennett

Isaiah Emerson

Jeerawaat Waite

If you wish for your character to be one of the names in the running, simply drop us a message to the main ( character name & their faction ) From there we will let you know when our vote is officially open. Species that have less numbers than others can absolutely still partake either joining another group, ie: fairies with witches, or can alternatively have an npc following & put a call out for wanted species connections.

( We ask that all names are sent to us by 01/24 )

[dillinger]

AZZEDINE ALAÏA / ARTHUR ELGORT / FREEDOM

Together, Azzedine Alaïa and Arthur Elgort shaped the freedom of the 80s. At the same time as the fashion designer saw his feminine ideal embodied in the street and by the ever-increasing number of clients, the photographer left the studios, took over the movement and the cities as a natural and new setting. Both actively contributed to renewing the representation of the now assertive, determined, independent woman. The exhibition presented at the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation compares timeless photographs essential to the designer’s iconography, as well as more confidential shots, with Alaïa’s most iconic clothes.

Elgort swapped his Polaroid for a Nikon. He developed a true passion for all types of new and vintage cameras whose techniques and unique features he appreciated. He became a master of the camera. The chief editor of Vogue, Alexander Liberman, saw a few photographs by the newcomer and encouraged him then introduced him to the editors of his illustrious magazine. He did his early shoots in collaboration with Polly Allen Mellen and Grace Coddington. Within a year he became famous. The paths of Azzedine and Arthur obviously ended up crossing in Paris. As they worked together on magazine shoots, Elgort and Alaïa shared a dislike for superfluous sets and props, which got in the way of Elgort’s photographic vision and Alaïa’s sculptural creations.

His black and white photos were intended to look like snapshots. He preferred explosive movement to the clichéd poses of fashion models. He opened the windows of studios to let in the light and turned the street into his theatre. Alaïa instinctly identified not only with his innovative but rigorous approach. When the images were published, it was hard to tell who was acting as a foil for whom: was it the joyful photography that invited to garment to move, or was it the figure-hugging, suggestive dress that provided the movement captured in the image? The models captured by Elgort’s lens and dressed by Alaïa became the ambassadors for new forms of expression where two artistic approaches came together but never clashed. Linda Spierings, Jeny Howarth, Janice Dickinson, Bonnie Berman, Veronica Webb, Frederique Van der Wal, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Stephanie Seymour were like divinities dancing on the frieze created by Alaïa and Elgort.

This osmosis consists of a unique exhibition in Paris dedicated to photography and fashion, whose revival was orchestrated by Alaïa and Elgort. Playfulness, intuition, and spontaneity were at work here. The future showed that this unbridled game would mark a new chapter in fashion photography, demystifying couture creations to bring them within everyone’s reach. Arthur Elgort was born in New York. Azzedine Alaïa in Tunis. Both hoped that the practise of official art would guide their destiny. Elgort aspired to become a painter and enrolled at Hunter College. Alaïa learned the techniques of sculpture at the School of Fine Arts in Tunis. Elgort did not feel fulfilled in the discipline he had adopted. Similarly, Azzedine refused to become a secondrate sculptor. While dressmaking work for a select clientele allowed him to finance his studies, the clothes he made built him a reputation as a budding designer whose virtuosity was acknowledged. Alaïa took the risky decision of going to Paris and, in the mid-1950s. His story began.

A similar story characterised the early career of Arthur Elgort. His artistic ambitions deviated when, in the 1960s, he went to a camera shop. He bought a Polaroid camera and learned how to use it, exploring his environment, showing his pictures to his teachers, and abandoning the past. It became clear that his future layed in lenses, dark rooms, and photographic papers. He would be a photographer. The way they evolved in their discipline in exile was different, however. While he was preparing to sit behind the gleaming sewing machines at the great Paris maisons, Alaïa’s destiny led him to become a mysterious and sought-after private couturier. Simone Zehrfuss, Louise de Vimorin, the Comtesse de Blégiers, Arletty commissioned bespoke garments from him. The women who tracked him down and recommended him gave him a greater understanding of the body and allowed him to perfect his technique. They would be his “school”, until Thierry Mugler, his leading admirer, persuaded him to become a fully-fledged fashion designer.

[art-van-delay420]

Advice:

Be sure to check for lyrics about cum in a Bonnie "Prince" Billy or David Berman song before you suggest playing it with your Dad.

[chicinsilk]

Vogue Italia January 1984

Valentino

Fire red for the three-quarter length jacket. Square shoulders, small yokes and a single button that closes the round neck strap. In Ottoman wool from Agnona. Two contrasting pieces: tied behind the blue and white checked top (Corisia fabric), asymmetrical at the back, with false slit and double pleat on the blue skirt (Tonella gabardine). Bal Có shoes for Valentino. Valentino gloves and hat.

Rouge feu pour la veste trois-quarts. Épaules carrées, petits empiècements et un seul bouton qui ferme la bretelle du col rond. En laine Ottoman d'Agnona. Deux pièces contrastées : noué derrière le haut à carreaux bleus et blancs (tissu Corisia), asymétrique au dos, avec fausse fente et double pli sur la jupe bleue (gabardine Tonella). Chaussures Bal Có pour Valentino. Gants et chapeau Valentino.

Model/Modèle : Bonnie Berman Photo Arthur Elgort archivio.vogue.it

[loueale]

Valentino Boutique Photo Oliviero Toscani Model Bonnie Berman

[wvsteria]

so this is just going to be a plotting call!!! i will not be doing any starter calls. the threads will be transitioned afterwards. but if there’s a new pairing that we want to put together then we can split up starters and talk about that then! this is mostly to highlight what’s happened to the muses and what their general vibes are now. 

aj campos  / crush / 19 / aware / paired w maxine baker

aj is pretty emotionally scared, but like who isn’t at this point? maybe their art will be pretty dark for a while. they still really like max and understand it’s not their fault but they’re a bit weary now about any friendships/relationships going forward. she’s recoiled quite a bit for an already reserved person. 

alaric saltzman / vampire diaries / 34 / aware / paired w josette laughlin

alaric hates that he even wanted to hurt jo. he’s probably going to be drinking again for a bit to drown his sorrows. working later nights to try and distract himself from the realities of what took over him. 

antonia dreykov / marvel / 25 / aware / randomized w jacob hill

antonia is also traumatized. big shock, right? she hates that she was so easily taken advantage of again. it brought her right back to when she was a kid. her recluse state is now just going back to being kind of mean and off-handed for a while until she can be convinced that she’s not just a killing machine.

azula / avatar: the last airbender / 22 / unaware / paired w ty lee

azula actually feels really bad that she just killed someone. she wasn’t in control of her actions and would never (while unaware) want to really hurt someone in that way. they be trying to do some atonement. their version of it at least. 

bucky barnes / marvel / 32 / not aware / paired w emmeline vance

hasn’t happened yet. it’s going to be very jarring when he wakes up with all his memories. dealing with the winter soldier’s memories as well as his own... it’ll be a very hard pill to swallow. 

calcifer / howl’s moving castle / 25 / unaware / unaffected

calcifer is in a state of wtf just happened- but mostly not much has changed for them. lol

callie torres / grey’s anatomy / 39 / unaware / unaffected

callie is wishing they never left new york at this point. but they’re just going to continue to work hard and try not to die :D

catra / she-ra / 25 / unaware / randomized w emily fitch

catra is also mostly unbothered tbh. they don’t really care about what they did. they feel a little bad but like... no one was permanently harmed so who cares? 

cindy berman / fear street part II / 25 / not aware / paired w npc

hasn’t happened yet. cindy is kinda in shock about learning/remembering what happened to her. she’s probably called out of work for like a week. hiding in her apartment and processing and crying about her sister. 

dani powell / prodigal son / 32 / aware / paired w malcolm bright 

dani has thrown herself into her work, trying to prove to themselves that they’re a good person. or trying to make up for what she thought she did. otherwise... probably avoiding malcolm like the plague frfr. she’s a little miserable. 

enzo st. john / vampire diaries / 140 / aware / paired w bonnie bennet

hasn’t happened yet. enzo is going to be living a normal life. probably going to become a vicious mean vampire. so be careful around him !!

gwen blake / the black phone / 20 / aware / randomized w jin ling

gwen is a little ashamed of what happened to her. but she’s trying not to think of it much. maybe will be relying on her visions to do more good around the city.

gwen runck / the 90s show / 18 / aware / paired w leia forman

gwen just hopes to god that leia will forgive them. they kind of scared themselves and never want to feel like that again. 

hayley marshall / vampire diaries / 33 / aware / paired w seth gecko

hayley feels awful. like she’s got the biggest hangover ever. she’s going to try and apologize to everyone that she hurt. and she’s also got to reunite with her family still. 

heron lyptus / harry potter / 30 / aware / unaffected

hasn’t happened yet. y’all are going to be introduced to the new and improved heron. it’s going to be a mystery to me too what kind of person he’ll be so !! he’ll be finding himself a job, most likely as a personal trainer. 

jacen solo / star wars / 27 / aware / paired w tenel ka djo

darth caedus is still lurking below the surface as jacen sinks lower into the shame of what he’s done. he’ll be shutting himself off from his entire family. but especially leia. he still holds that thought that he doesn’t want to see her. but he’ll just be working and trying not to deal with the family drama again to keep caedus from resurfacing. 

jacob peralta / brooklyn 99 / 39 / aware / paired w amy santiago

jake feels disgusted that he became the gruber !!!!! especially trying to hurt amy. he’s doing everything in his power to make sure she knows that he’s sorry. and he’s going to go out and make sure his friends are okay and put in more work.

jasper hale / twilight / 179/20 / not aware / unaffected

jasper is surprised to learn there are more out there like him. he isn’t so affected by the events other than thinking this town is insane but he still can’t leave. catch him trying to find more vampires.

justin russo / wizards of waverly place / 26 / aware / randomized w reggie peters

justin feels guilty beyond belief. he always believed that if anyone in his family were to turn evil it’d be alex. but he was right at the same level with her. he has to reevaluate himself and will be trying to do as much good as he can. 

kate bishop / marvel / 23 / aware / paired w america chavez

kate hopes that this hasn’t ruined anything between her and america. she’s quite actually dreading seeing her. so she’ll be everywhere else and bothering everyone else in the meantime. she’s kinda going about business as usual just extra clingy to other people to avoid america. 

kiara carrera / outerbanks / 22 / aware / paired w jj maybank

kie is still without her humanity so she’s kind of on a rampage? rip. she’s avoiding turning her humanity on because she doesn’t want to see what her friends think about her and what she did, especially jj. 

lucrecia / elite / 20 / aware / randomized w jennifer honey

lu is frightened of this town now. she knew it was magical and different, but she didn’t know it was to this extent. she’s going to be doing anything she can to try and distract her from what happened. overworking herself with school. pretending it never happened. 

marcellus gerard / vampire diaries: the originals / 216/25 / not aware / unaffected

marcel thinks this place is insane but he’s also a vampire so like ? not much has changed for him. 

marie clay / vampire diaries: the originals oc / 193 (24) / aware / randomized w dart

marie’s humanity is back on but tbh she wasn’t that nice with it ?? 

mouse honrada / pll: original sin / 18 / not aware / paired w toph beifong

mouse is having even worse nightmares now. she can’t sleep at night anymore. they really need help tbh.

oliver queen / dc’s the arrow / 36 / unaware / paired w caitlin snow

oliver is really dreading what this will do to the company and his public image. he’s concerned about where all that fighting knowledge came from but ... let’s just focus on the company for now... because that makes way more sense in his head right now. 

padme amidala / star wars / 27 / not aware / randomized w katara

hasn’t happened yet. padme is going to be trying to figure out how she’s alive again and what the hell’s happened to her family? everything is a hot mess ??? and sheev ?? is vice president ??? what is happening ?? 

penelope park / legacies / 18 / not aware / paired w josie saltzman

hasn’t happened yet. with her memories regained, pen is probably just going to try and console josie and will be trying to figure out a way to make sure the rest of their friends remember. including lizzie.... who isn’t technically her friend but still. 

piper halliwell / charmed / 35 / not aware / unaffected

piper is kinda just stuck in a perpetual state of what the fuck right now. she got info dumped on and doesn’t really believe a thing she’s hearing so she’s just trying to be a normal chef girl let her be ?? 

rachel green / friends / 27 / not aware / paired w bela dimitrescu

rachel might still be afraid of bela and is most certainly terrified of her sister. she doesn’t know how things are supposed to go back to normal now. catch her crying everyday while shopping. #retail therapy that’ll break her bank. (credit cards tbh).

riley matthews / girl meets world / 18 / aware / paired w maya hart

riley is going to be overcompensating by being extra extra extra riley with her friends especially maya. she’s not that girl and would never want to hurt anyone especially her friends !!!!!

roxanne weasley / harry potter / 21 / aware / randomized w parker halliwell

roxy is really not herself anymore. she’ hasn’t picked up her wand since that day. she’s pretty much locked herself in her room. she’s not going to want to talk to anyone...literally... don’t think she’s really spoken much beyond necessity since it happened. 

rue / the hunger games / 20 / aware / paired w luke patterson

rue is a little nervous but seeing as it happened to everyone, they really just want to make sure that luke’s okay and that he doesn’t hate her. she wishes more and more everyday though that she wasn’t stuck here. 

samara palpatine / star wars / 24 / aware / randomized w hermione granger

samara’s only regret is that she didn’t get to off her target. but oh well. she got to be in many fights and is pleased with the outcome of most of them. just wait till the other shoe drops my dear. she’s also going to be getting a kick out of torturing the twins.

sarah miller / the last of us / 18 / not aware / unaffected

sarah is scared of this town now. she’s a little nervous to go out and do things but her life can’t stop because of this. she’s probably going to search for self defense classes. 

stu macher / scream / 18 / aware / unaffected

stu had a great fucking time. he’s only sad every day can’t be like this. so uh... he’s chasing that high. sorry to any people that catch him at the wrong time. 

tara carpenter / scream / 19 / not aware / paired w amber freeman

tara now has a different view of just about everyone that was really close to them. and they don’t know what to do about that. they’re a little lost right now. 

violet / arcane / 25 / aware / unaffected

vi is just going to be checking in on her family, including jinx and caitlyn. screw silco for threatening her friend. she already didn’t like him so now she’s going to try and plan something. 

willa lykensen / disney’s zombies / 20 / aware / randomized w riley biers

willa feels extremely bad. she’s never supposed to lose her cool like that. especially as the alpha. she’s questioning her position but she’s still going to try and stay strong for her pack.

[ulkaralakbarova]

A group of American soldiers stationed in Iraq at the end of the Gulf War find a map they believe will take them to a huge cache of stolen Kuwaiti gold hidden near their base, and they embark on a secret mission that’s destined to change everything. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Archie Gates: George Clooney Troy Barlow: Mark Wahlberg Chief Elgin: Ice Cube Conrad Vig: Spike Jonze Amir Abdullah: Cliff Curtis Adriana Cruz: Nora Dunn Walter Wogaman: Jamie Kennedy Captain Said: Saïd Taghmaoui Colonel Horn: Mykelti Williamson Captain Van Meter: Holt McCallany Cathy Daitch: Judy Greer Teebaux: Christopher Lohr Paco: Jon Sklaroff Debbie Barlow, Troy’s Wife: Liz Stauber Amir’s Wife: Marsha Horan Amir’s Daughter: Alia Shawkat Hairdressing Twin #2: Ghanem Algarawi Hairdressing Twin #1: Jabir Algarawi Western Dressed Village Woman: Bonnie Afsary Traditional Village Woman: Jacqueline Abi-Ad Deserter Leader: Fadil Al-Badri Kaied: Qaid Al-Nomani Iraqi Tank Major: Sayed Badreya Iraqi Troop Carrier Major: Magdi Rashwan Iraqi First Kill Soldier: Ali Afshar Berm Soldier / Truck Driver: Tank Jones Berm Soldier: Patrick O’Neal Jones Berm Soldier: Shawn Pilot Berm Soldier: Brett Bassett Cuts Troy’s Cuff Soldier: Jim Gaffigan Camp Soldier / Truck Driver: Al Whiting Camp Soldier / Truck Driver: Brian Patterson Camp Soldier: Scott Dillon Camp Soldier: Kwesi Okai Hazel Camp Soldier: Joseph Romanov Camp Soldier: Christopher B. Duncan Camp Soldier: Randy W. McCoy Camp Soldier: Mark Rhodes Camp Soldier: Scott Pearce Civil Affairs Company Clerk: Gary Parker Saudi Translator: Haidar Alatowa Iraqi Soldier with Map: Salah Salea Dead Iraqi Soldier: Doug Jones Iraqi Civilian Mother with Baby: Farinaz Farrokh Lying Iraqi – Bunker #1: Omar ‘Freefly’ Alhegelan Friendly Iraqi – Bunker #1: Hassan Allawati Pleading Civilian Woman: Sara Aziz Iraqi Civilian Man: A. Halim Mostafa Storeroom Captain – Bunker #2: Al Mustafa Iraqi Interrogation Sergeant: Anthony Batarse Iraqi Rifle Loader #1 – Bunker #2: Mohamad Al-Jalahma Iraqi Rifle Loader #2 – Bunker #2: Mohammed Sharafi Storeroom Guard – Bunker #2: Hillel Michael Shamam Iraqi Radio Operator: Joey Naber Black Robe Leader: Basim Ridha Iraqi Republican Guard Lieutenant – Oasis Bunker: Peter Macdissi Iraqi Republican Guard Sergeant – Oasis Bunker: Tony Shawkat Iraqi Republican Guard Sergeant – Oasis Bunker: Joseph Abi-Ad Troy’s Interrogation Guard – Oasis Bunker: Fahd Al-Ujaimy Troy’s Interrogation Guard – Oasis Bunker: Derick Qaqish Troy’s Republican Guard – Oasis Bunker: Hassan Bach-Agha Troy’s Republican Guard – Oasis Bunker: Fadi Sitto Deserter #1: Ali Alkindi Deserter #2: Abdullah Al-Dawalem Deserter #3: Rick Mendoza Republican Guard on Roof – Oasis Bunker: Jassim Al-Khazraji Fleeing Republican Guard – Oasis Bunker: Haider Alkindi Fleeing Republican Guard – Oasis Bunker: Kalid Mustafa Fleeing Republican Guard – Oasis Bunker: Ghazwyn Ramlawi Fleeing Republican Guard – Oasis Bunker: Raad Thomasian Fleeing Republican Guard – Oasis Bunker: Wessam Saleh Fleeing Republican Guard / Sniper – Oasis Bunker: Jay Giannone Fleeing Republican Guard / Sniper – Oasis Bunker: Sam Hassan Action Star: Brian Bosworth Iraqi Child: Donte Delila Iraqi Child: Dylan Brown Helicopter Pilot (uncredited): Rick Shuster Film Crew: Screenplay: David O. Russell Executive Producer: Bruce Berman Producer: Charles Roven Director of Photography: Newton Thomas Sigel Original Music Composer: Carter Burwell Production Design: Catherine Hardwicke Editor: Robert K. Lambert Set Decoration: Gene Serdena Costume Design: Kym Barrett Costume Supervisor: Bob Morgan Producer: Edward McDonnell Art Direction: Jann K. Engel Art Direction: Derek R. Hill Casting: Mary Vernieu Producer: Paul Junger Witt Casting: Anne McCarthy Makeup Artist: Adam Brandy Construction Coordinator: Lars Petersen Steadicam Operator: Larry McConkey Dialogue Editor: Donald L. Warner Jr. Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Michael Herbick Makeup Artist: Donald Mowat Chief Lighting Technician: Terry Hall Key Grip: David L. Me...

[xtruss]

Denounced as a hate symbol, the Confederate flag remains popular among white supremacists and Southerners who claim it as their heritage. In this image from January 6, 2021, a man flies the flag at the rally for then-President Donald Trump that led to an armed siege of the U.S. Capitol. Photograph By Nina Berman, Noor/Redux

How The Confederate Battle Flag Became An Enduring Symbol of Racism

It was never the official flag of the Confederacy. But the battle flag has since been claimed by white supremacists and mythologized by others as an emblem of a rebellious Southern heritage.

— By Erin Blackemore | Published January 12, 2021

When a mob of armed insurgents flooded the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, they brought an accessory: the Confederate battle flag. As the crowd of President Trump’s supporters rioted, many hoisted the symbol of a short-lived splinter nation that tore the Union apart.

Today, alongside the nation’s growing acknowledgment of systemic racism and widespread Black Lives Matter protests, the Confederate flag predictably makes appearances at white supremacist gatherings.

But how did the battle flag, also known as the Southern Cross, come to represent the Confederacy in the first place? It’s a story of rebellion, racism, and disagreement over the true history of the Civil War—and as the controversy over its use during the Capitol riots shows, it’s divisive even 160 years after it was designed.

How The Confederate Flag Came To Be

Though inextricably linked with the Confederacy, the flag was never its official symbol. When rebels fired on Fort Sumter in April 1861, they flew a blue banner with a single white star called the Bonnie Blue Flag. But as secession got underway, the Confederate States of America adopted a flag that riffed off the Union’s stars and stripes.

Known as the “Stars and Bars,” the flag featured a white star for each Confederate state on a blue background, and three stripes, two red and one white. It was distinct from the Union’s flag. But it didn’t look like that from a distance—and in the thick of battle, it was hard to tell the two apart. This caused major problems at the July 1861 Battle of First Manassas and during other skirmishes as some troops mistakenly fired on their own comrades.

A lithograph from 1897 displays four prominent designs of the Confederate flag and states that the images "help in keeping within us recollections of those who gave their lives to the 'Lost Cause,' and to perpetuate the memories and traditions of the South." Photograph Courtesy The Library of Congress

In an effort to avoid the visual confusion, General Pierre Beauregard commissioned a new battle flag design. William Porcher Miles, a Confederate congressman and Beauregard’s aide-de-camp, designed it, borrowing an X-shaped pattern known as St. Andrew’s Cross and emblazoning it with one star for each seceding state.

But though it was extremely popular, this new battle flag— which eventually became known as the “Southern Cross”—wasn’t adopted as the Confederacy’s official military or government symbol. Although future official Confederate banners did incorporate its symbolism in the left-hand corner, they instead added a white field that represented purity. The Confederacy adopted a total of three national flags before its collapse in 1865.

With the war over, the South entered Reconstruction, a period during which the now reunified United States ended slavery and gave Black Americans citizenship and voting rights. But once Reconstruction ended in 1877, white Southerners hastened to restore what they saw as their rightful place at the top of a racially segregated social order. Segregation and oppressive “Jim Crow” laws soon disenfranchised Black Southerners—and members of the Ku Klux Klan terrorized them.

The Myth of the Lost Cause

By the early 20th century, white Southerners had mythologized an imagined South that fought the war not to uphold slavery but to protect states’ rights and a genteel way of life—an idyll endangered by “Northern aggression” and interference. As historian Caroline E. Janney notes, the Lost Cause myth came about immediately after the war as Confederates struggled to come to terms with their defeat “in a postwar climate of economic, racial, and social uncertainty.”

Efforts to memorialize the Confederate dead also began as soon as the war ended, but they ballooned as white Southerners reclaimed their power after Reconstruction. Then, as Confederate veterans began to die in the early 20th century, groups like the United Daughters of the Confederacy pushed to commemorate them—and make their version of history the official doctrine of Southern states.

Confederate monuments soon dotted the South, and the battle flag was added to the state flag of Mississippi. Historian Gaines M. Foster for Zócalo Public Square writes that its use “was regional and tied to the memory of the war.”

The Dixiecrats Defend Segregation

That changed in 1948 with the “Dixiecrats,” or States’ Rights Democratic Party, a racist, pro-segregation splinter party formed by Southern Democrats. They objected to the Democratic Party’s adoption of a pro-civil rights platform and were dismayed when hundreds of thousands of Black Americans registered to vote in Democratic primaries after the Supreme Court declared all-white primaries unconstitutional.

The Dixiecrats’ adoption of the Confederate battle flag as a party symbol led to a surge in the banner’s popularity, and a “flag fad” spread from college campuses to Korean War battlefields and beyond. The Southern Cross symbolized rebelliousness, writes historian John M. Koski—but now it gained “a more specific connotation of resistance to the civil rights movement and to racial integration.”

The identification stuck, and the flag’s use proliferated. In 1956, prompted by the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education ruling that declared segregation unconstitutional, Georgia adopted a state flag that prominently incorporated the symbol. Across the South, Citizens’ Councils and the Ku Klux Klan flew the battle flag as they intimidated Black citizens. And both South Carolina and Alabama began flying it over their capitols.

Robed Ku Klux Klan members watch Black demonstrators march through Okolona, Mississippi, in 1978. The protesters were demanding diverse hiring and were boycotting the area's stores. Photograph By JM, AP

A crowd of white teenagers protest school integration in Montogmery, Alabama, in 1963. Photograph By Flip Schulke, Corbis/Corbis/Getty Images

Rebellion, Heritage, and Hate

But though the flag had been adopted by advocates of segregation and white supremacy, many denied that aspect of its meaning and instead insisted it stood for the Southern ideals espoused by the Lost Cause. The Dixiecrat-era “fad flag” stoked its sale on everything from T-shirts to mugs and bumper stickers. Its popularity persisted, and over the ensuing decades, the battle flag became a generic symbol of rebellion spotted on TV shows like The Dukes of Hazzard and on stage with bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd.

The flag had become big business—and led a double life both as a nostalgic symbol and a deeply evocative banner of racism. As historian John M. Coski writes, “Confederate heritage organizations insisted that the flag was rightfully theirs and stood only for the honor of their ancestors.” At the same time, however, the symbol was publicly claimed by those who challenged Black people’s humanity—people like Byron De La Beckwith, a Mississippi white supremacist who murdered civil rights activist Medgar Evers in 1963 and who wore a Confederate flag pin on his lapel throughout his 1994 trial.

It was also challenged by Black activists and their white allies. In 2000, the NAACP began a 15-year-long economic boycott of South Carolina because of its use of the flag. Protesters fought the symbol in public spaces and educational institutions. But despite recurrent debates about its meaning and appropriateness, the flag never really disappeared.

Does the Flag Have a Future?

In 2015, the flag came roaring back into the national consciousness when a white supremacist killed nine churchgoers at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. After images of the shooter, Dylann Roof, carrying Confederate battle flags emerged, multiple states bowed to pressure to remove them from memorials. South Carolina, which had defiantly flown the banner at its capitol for years, retired it that year, and multiple retailers stopped selling merchandise featuring the flag now labeled a hate symbol by the Anti-Defamation League.

The Southern Cross still has plenty of supporters who insist their love of the flag is about “heritage, not hate.” In a 2019 survey of nearly 35,000 U.S. adults, polling firm YouGov found that although a plurality of Americans (41 percent) think the flag symbolizes racism, 34 percent think it symbolizes heritage. In the wake of the 2017 Charlottesville white supremacist rally, demand for the banner surged across the country.

Activist and filmmaker Brittany "Bree" Newsome climbed a 30-foot pole outside of the South Carolina state capitol to remove the Confederate flag weeks after a shooting at a predominantly Black Charleston church in 2015. Newsome was arrested, but state officials voted to remove the flag from the building the following month. Photograph By Adam Anderson, Reuters

Men fly a massive Confederate flag during a Black Lives Matter protest in Charleston, South Carolina, in August, 2020. Photograph By Kris Graves, National Geographic

Historian William Sturkey, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina and author of Hattiesburg: An American City in Black and White, says that racists turn to the symbol again and again when they feel embattled and threatened. “When their backs are against the wall, they turn to the flag,” he says.

Heritage or no, the Confederate flag retains its associations with centuries of racial injustice. Though it has some Black supporters, it remains shorthand for a defiant South and all that implies. For many on the receiving end of hundreds of years of racism, the Confederate battle flag embodies everything from hatred to personal intimidation—a far cry from the sanitized Lost Cause narrative that helped fuel its rise.