South Carolina's Confederate flag is gone, but vestiges of the Civil War-era South remain

FILE - In this July 19, 2011, file photo, Confederate battle flags fly outside the museum at the Confederate Memorial Park in Mountain Creek, Ala. The Confederate battle flag has been removed from South Carolina's Statehouse grounds, in the wake of the massacre of nine African-Americans, including a state senator, at an historic black church in Charleston in June 2015. (AP Photo/Dave Martin, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this photo combination, the Confederate battle flag is raised in front of the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia, S.C., on July 1, 2000, left, and the same flag is taken down on July 10, 2015, right, ending its presence on the Capitol grounds. The flag’s removal seemed unthinkable before the June 17 massacre of nine black parishioners at a Charleston church during a Bible study. Dylann Roof, a white man who was photographed with the Confederate flag, is charged in the shooting deaths, and authorities have called the killings a hate crime. (AP Photo/Paula Illingworth, left, John Bazemore, right) (The Associated Press)

An honor guard from the South Carolina Highway patrol lowers the Confederate battle flag as it is removed from the Capitol grounds Friday, July 10, 2015, in Columbia, S.C. The Confederate flag was lowered from the grounds of the South Carolina Statehouse to the cheers of thousands on Friday, ending its 54-year presence there and marking a stunning political reversal in a state where many thought the rebel banner would fly indefinitely. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) (The Associated Press)

The Confederate battle flag no longer flies at South Carolina's Statehouse. But other symbols of the Civil-War South are unlikely to vanish soon.

Calls to remove the flag or other symbols since the massacre of nine people inside a black church also prompted changes in Alabama and the city of Memphis.

But the region is full of monuments to top Confederate officials. Mississippi's state flag includes the battle flag, while Georgia's is based on another Confederate design. License plates featuring the flag are supported by groups in several states.

Those resisting removal of the flag and other symbols say they represent Southern history and have public support.

Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, says the response is South Carolina is encouraging. But he says a "kind of mental cleansing" is still long overdue in the South.