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History Detectives Examines the Mystery Surrounding The “Red Hand Flag” on ETV

Program airs on Monday, July 7 at 9 p.m.

For Immediate Release
June 13, 2008

Columbia, SC...On Monday, July 7 at 9 p.m., ETV airs an episode of History Detectives that uncovers a South Carolina mystery.  The hour-long program devotes a segment of the show to investigating the authenticity of the "Red Hand Flag:" Was this the actual flag that was carried into WWI battle by the Palmetto State’s all African-American 371st Regiment?

The 371st Regiment, an unsung band of soldiers at Fort Jackson, was founded in 1917, a result of segregation laws which prevented Negro soldiers from fighting alongside their white counterparts.  Instead, this troop fought with the now-famous French "Red Hand" Division.  By the end of the war, the corps was the most highly decorated of the eight African-American units in WWI, and was awarded the Croix de Guerre, a French medal for heroism.

The worn red-white-red striped banner in question, with its red felted hand sewn in the center and small U.S. flag in the corner, holds the answers as the History Detectives determine whether or not the artifact is authentic.

Taped at the South Carolina Relic Room and Military Museum in Columbia earlier this year, the show seeks to unravel the mystery behind the flag that was purchased by Batesburg-Leesville resident Anne Clarkson, a Desert Storm veteran who was stationed at Fort Jackson.

The broadcast also makes other Midlands connections through interviews with Sarah Wooton, curator of the South Carolina Relic Room and Military Museum and Orangeburg resident Russell Wolfe, whose second cousin, Benjamin Francis Simmons, was a white platoon leader in the regiment.

Hosted by art historian and History Detectives expert Elyse Luray, the show connects the dots that perhaps link this peculiar flag to the legacy of the Red Hand Division and its wartime triumphs.

South Carolina ETV is the state's public educational broadcasting network with 11 television and eight radio transmitters, and a multi-media educational system in more than 2,500 schools, colleges, businesses and government agencies. Using television, radio and the web, SCETV's mission is to enrich lives by educating children, informing and connecting citizens, celebrating our culture and environment and instilling the joy of learning.

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For more information, contact Rob Schaller at (803) 737-6556 or rschaller@scetv.org.