Maryland is one of nine states that allowed the Confederate flag on specialty license plates. The state has recalled 78 of the specialty plates following the June 17 murders of nine people at an African-American church in South Carolina,
The Associated Press reported.
They will be replaced with free regular plates, the state motor vehicle agency said, noting that the complaints received in the weeks following the shooting were the first since the plates became available to vehicle owners beginning two years ago.
"It has become obvious that the logo on the plates is offensive to a large segment of Maryland's population,'' Motor Vehicle Administrator Ronald Freeland told the AP. "We're not involved in polarizing people.''
The specialty license plates were issued by request of the
Sons of Confederate Veterans, The Huffington Post reported. Governors in other states, including Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee, have called for the end of specialty plates featuring the Confederate flag.
As the flag debates simmered nationwide, the flag was burned in a symbolic protest in Baltimore on July 4 by a group representing the Peoples Power Assembly and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,
The Baltimore Sun reported.
The flag remained available for purchase from some private sellers and flown on private property in Maryland, as some noted its history in a state that is below the Mason-Dixon line.
The National Park Service said it would stop selling items with the Confederate flag at the Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, Maryland, the Sun reported.
On July 10, the Confederate flag was removed from South Carolina statehouse grounds and sent to a museum. Most Americans (57 percent) support the
flag’s removal, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Of about 2,000 people surveyed, 28 percent reported a negative reaction to seeing the flag displayed, compared with 13 percent who reported a positive reaction, and 56 percent saying they have no particular reaction.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.