Gather round ye lads & lassies......

for today's short and sweet history lesson. Have you ever heard how the lovely ladies in New Orleans practiced their genteel version of civil disobedience long ago during the time of Federal occupation? If the term Fleurs du Sud doesn't have meaning to you -- you probably missed this little tidbit from the past. And....since I couldn't find an image (even on Google images) I was forced to take pictures of my own and figure out how to upload them to this post. ....I know they aren't the best images, but it's the best I can do at present.

You won't be surprised to know that displaying the Confederate flag was a big no-no back then. (Sort of like it is now.) Well, times being what they were, and the ladies of New Orleans being who they were -- inventive ways were devised to display the colors -- covertly. They planted flower beds in the colors of the flag. And a local drawing teacher, J.B. Guibet, created the lithograph (a reproduction of which I've posted above) depicting the Stars and Bars -- the Confederate First National Flag.

Here's part of what's written below my print: "The blue shaded area in the upper left corner represents the flag's blue canton. The eleven five pointed flowers represent the eleven Confederate States, and the two blue flowers of the same design represent Kentucky and Missouri -- two border states. The two rows of red shaded flowers represent the red bars, and the single row of white flowers the white bar. The colors in the original lithograph are subtle shades so the flag's pattern won't be too obvious."

Needless to say, word got around and when Beast Butler heard about this deception every effort was made to destroy all the lithographs and engravings. My print is a reproduction of one of the surviving lithographs. It is hanging in my bedroom. And now, while writing this, I've realized that I have a Confederate flag hanging in my bedroom.

What attracted me to the print initially was the spirit of rebelion attached to it. I guess that rebel spirit is still alive and well down this way. You'd think we'd learn, huh?