Hundreds of people rallied for the removal of the Confederate battle flag from South Carolina's State House on Tuesday in the wake of shooting in Emanuel AME Church that killed 9 African-American worshipers.

The battle flag was designed originally at the start of the Civil War and was first raised by the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. After the war, the flag was used as an emblem of Southern pride to honor fallen Southern soldiers. In 1948, it was adopted by a splinter group of Southern Democrats who call themselves as Dixiecrats.

Don Doyle said that although he believes that the flag was an important Civil War emblem and relic of Southern heritage he argued that the flag's historical significance has long been concealed by its more modern image as a banner of hate.

When the Supreme Court declared public school segregation illegal, several states began flying the flag over public buildings or incorporated it into its official flags.

Civil rights groups seek the battle flag be removed from flags and other civic displays for decades.

Among the people rallying on streets, was a history professor from the University of South Carolina who has an expertise in the Civil War and its impacts on the world.

He said, "I"m a historian, so I'm not in the business of erasing history, and I don't mind engaging in troubled history. But I think that belongs in classrooms and museums and not in public spaces, where it can appear that the state is honoring a symbol of segregation and slavery”.