In light of a recent efforts to remove Confederate symbols from American cities, Six Flags has decided to stop flying the Confederate flag, as well as other historic flags, at its theme parks.
On Friday, Six Flags said they replaced not only the Confederate flag, but the flags of four other nations that were originally part of the park's branding.
Six Flags is, of course, named after the six nations who at one time or another ruled over Texas. Those nations were France, Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America and the United States of America.
Flags were replaced Friday at Six Flags Over Texas, Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags Over Georgia, the only parks where the flags were flown.
"At Six Flags Over Texas we strive every single day to make people happy and to create a fun, thrilling and safe family friendly experience for our guests. We always choose to focus on celebrating the things that unite us versus those that divide us. As such, we have changed the flag displays in our park to feature American flags," a Six Flags spokesperson told NBC 5 Friday.
In Arlington, each of the six historic flags welcomed guests as they arrived at the park's parking area and inside the main entrance. As of Friday, all of the flags have been replaced with American flags in both locations.
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Since the national flags had been used since the park's inception more than five decades ago, Six Flags Over Texas officials said it may take time to remove flags from other areas of the park.
Until Friday, the version of the Confederate flag flown at the theme park was the first national flag of the Confederacy, aka the Stars and Bars, and not the battle flag that has become synonymous in modern times with representing the southern states in the Civil War.
The Stars and Bars version, a name often misappropriated to the battle flag, has a field made up of three "bars" of alternating red and white horizontal stripes with a blue square in the corner housing a ring of white stars.
Six Flags Through the Years
The battle flag, commonly known today as the Rebel flag and the one drawing the most scrutiny for its current use, is a flag with a field of red and a blue "x" across the face. Along the blue "x" were white stars, one for each state in the Confederacy.
While the removal of the national flags is permanent, Six Flags said they routinely change their flag displays for seasonal and holiday displays and that years ago the company changed their branding logo away from the national flags to colored pennants.
