US City
On 1 October 2026 Montgomery lowers a flag it had flown since 1952 and raises a new one. The old flag counted seven stars, for the first seven states of the Confederacy; the new one counts nine, for the nine districts of the city council. Same device, same city — a different thing counted.
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| City | Montgomery, Alabama — state capital |
|---|---|
| New flag | Adopted 5 May 2026, raised 1 October 2026 — by Joshua Gordon |
| Nine stars | The nine districts of the City Council |
| Previous flag | 1952–2026, by Robert S. Ryan — seven stars for the Confederacy |
| Seal | Today: the city’s name and its motto, “Capital of Dreams” |
| Former seal | Great Seal of 1952, “Cradle of the Confederacy”; “Birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement” added in 2002 |
The old flag and the new — click the thumbnails.
Grey at the hoist, red at the fly, divided by a blue diagonal band edged in white and set with seven white stars; a gold laurel wreath at the centre, and City of Montgomery in white letters. Grey for the uniforms of the Confederate soldiers, red for Alabama, blue with grey for the unity of North and South — and the seven stars for the seven original states of the Confederacy. Designed by Robert S. Ryan and adopted on 19 April 1952.
Red diagonal bands, a blue ceremonial ribbon across the flag, nine old-gold stars, a central outlined star and olive branches. Designed by Joshua Gordon, adopted by the City Council on 5 May 2026 and raised at City Hall on 1 October 2026.
The design is by Joshua Gordon, chosen from a public contest run by the council and modified for the final version. It was adopted on 5 May 2026 and replaces every official city flag from 1 October 2026.
The two flags share a device: a band of stars across a divided field. What changes is what the stars count.
On the flag of 1952 there were seven, for the seven states that founded the Confederacy — at Montgomery itself, which was its first capital in 1861. The field behind them was grey, the colour of Confederate uniforms. It was drawn by Robert S. Ryan, a Montgomery native and Second World War veteran descended from Confederate soldiers of the city, and adopted on 19 April 1952.
On the flag of 2026 there are nine, and they count something present rather than past: the nine districts that elect the City Council. The grey has gone; the stars stay, and so does the red of Alabama. In heraldic terms the charge is kept and its meaning is re-blazoned.
The change began with a petition from Montgomery high school students in 2024, who objected that the city flag still carried the symbols of the Confederacy. The council opened a contest, and the flag that had been unchanged for seventy-four years came down.
The old seal and the new — click the thumbnails.
Adopted on 27 May 1952: City of Montgomery, Alabama, Great Seal in the outer circle, and a six-pointed star bearing “Cradle of the Confederacy”. In 2002 the council added “Birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement” in a ring around the star.
The seal the city uses now carries its name and its motto, “Capital of Dreams”. Neither motto of the Great Seal appears on it.
The Great Seal was adopted on 27 May 1952, five weeks after the flag. The resolution describes it simply: the words “City of Montgomery, Alabama, Great Seal” in the outer circle, and in the inner circle a six-pointed star bearing “Cradle of the Confederacy”. In the same spring of 1952 the city gave itself two emblems that said the same thing: a flag with seven Confederate stars on Confederate grey, and a seal calling Montgomery the cradle of the Confederacy.
In 2002 the City Council voted unanimously to change the seal, after a councilman called the old motto offensive. It did not remove it. It added a second one, on a design by Gloria Mann: “Birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement”, in a ring around the star. From then on the seal named Montgomery the cradle of two opposite histories at once — the Confederacy, founded there in 1861, and the civil rights movement, which began there with the bus boycott.
The seal the city uses today drops both cradles. It carries the city’s name and its motto, “Capital of Dreams”. It is the same move the flag makes in 2026: instead of weighing one history against another, the emblem stops claiming either.
The red diagonal bands stand for momentum and the city’s evolving story, the blue ribbon for renewal and unity, the nine gold stars for the nine City Council districts, the central star for Montgomery as the capital of Alabama, and the olive branches for peace and goodwill.
The flag of 1952 was grey and red with a blue band of seven white stars. The grey stood for the uniforms of Confederate soldiers, the red for Alabama, and the seven stars for the seven original states of the Confederacy.
On 1 October 2026, when it is raised at City Hall. The council adopted it on 5 May 2026.
The seal now in use carries the city’s name and its motto, “Capital of Dreams”. The Great Seal it replaced, adopted in 1952, carried a six-pointed star with the words “Cradle of the Confederacy”, to which the council added “Birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement” in 2002.
Joshua Gordon, whose entry was chosen in a public contest held by the City Council and modified for the final version.
A note on method. Both flags and the Great Seal are described from the published descriptions, the resolution of 1952 and the city’s stated symbolism, not from the drawing. For the seal in use today, no published description or adoption date was found; the page says only that it bears the city’s name and its motto.
Last reviewed by the Emblema Mundi editorial team on 30 September 2026.