South Carolina's Confederate flag to come down from Statehouse grounds after 54 years

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley signs a bill into law as former South Carolina governors and officials look on Thursday, July 9, 2015, at the Statehouse in Columbia, S.C. The law enables the removal of the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds more than 50 years after the rebel banner was raised to protest the civil rights movement. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) (The Associated Press)

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South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley speaks during a ceremony where she signed a bill into law, Thursday, July 9, 2015, at the Statehouse in Columbia, S.C. The law enables the removal of the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds more than 50 years after the rebel banner was raised to protest the civil rights movement. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) (The Associated Press)

Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, left, reacts with former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley after a ceremony where Gov. Nikki Haley signed a bill into law, Thursday, July 9, 2015, at the Statehouse in Columbia, S.C. The law enables the removal of the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds more than 50 years after the rebel banner was raised to protest the civil rights movement. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) (The Associated Press)

COLUMBIA, S.C. – With the emotional debates and protests behind them, South Carolina officials are preparing to quietly remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse where it has flown for more than a half-century.

The state plans a simple, short ceremony at 10 a.m. Friday, ending the rebel banner's 54 years of flying at the Capitol. The flag spent its final hours surrounded by ropes and barricades.

Gov. Nikki Haley signed a bill Thursday to remove the flag.

Calls to remove the flag emerged following the fatal shooting of nine people at a black church in Charleston last month. The suspect appeared in photos brandishing the Confederate flag.