NYC subway mosaics prompt debate on Confederate symbols

Times Square's bustle and cosmopolitan vibe might seem as far off from the Southas one can get.

But not underground, where apparent Confederate symbols have for almost acentury discreetly marked the subway station as "the basement of aSoutherner."

So argues Davey Jackowe, the Civil War historian whose research exploring apparent Confederate symbolism in the subway sparked a recent debate among the New York Times, the New York Post and bloggers.

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At issue are dozens of ceramic motifs blue crosses edged in white,against a field of red that have festooned the 42nd Street-Times Squarestation since 1917.

To Jackowe, who wrote about the curious trim designs for a 2012 article inCivil War Times, they're an unmistakable homage to the late Timespublisher Adolph Ochs' Southern roots.

"When you see this distinct pattern, that means only one thing," he said overthe rumble of trains at the station this week.

"It's the likeness of a Confederate flag."

Mosaics represent 'crossroads'

Social media users have posted about the curious tilework since at least2012, commenting on a possible link to the War of the Rebellion.

At a time when the rebel flag of the South has divided the country, with South Carolina senators voting this week to remove it from the statehouse's grounds, the Confederate battle flagisaspolitically loaded a symbol as ever.

But is that what's represented at Times Square?

The New York Post noticed the designs last month, proclaiming in aheadline to have found the subway's "hidden Confederate flags." The articlequoted riders who said they were "disgusted" by the designs.

The Times responded days later, noting that it observed nearly 200commuters walking past the mosaics on a Friday night, all seemingly"untroubled by the decorative environment."

Both articles quoted from Jackowe's research, written years before theCharleston tragedy and the current flag dispute.

As for the city's Metropolitan Transportation Authority's take on the tiles? Itwasn't convinced.

In an official statement, the MTA said the mosaics evoke Times Square'sstanding as the "crossroads of the world," and nothing more.

'Culturally dishonest'

Jackowe begs to differ, pointing to Ochs' well-publicized love for hisSouthern heritage as well as subway architect Squire J. Vickers' appreciationfor using symbols to honour prominent figures.

"To call these designs just geometric patterns is culturally dishonest,"Jackowe said.

"Did Squire Vickers coincidentally create a likeness of a Confederate flag andthen coincidentally place that coincidence in the basement of a prominentNew York Southerner? How likely is that?"

Times Square was named after The New York Times, the headquarters of which, under Ochs' stewardship, once housed the original subway in 1904.

Ochs lived most of his life in Knoxville, Tenn. His father, Julius, fought for the Union; his mother, Bertha Levy, was a "Confederate sympathizer" who smuggled medicines to the rebels, according to a 2014 op-ed in the Chattanooga Times by Ochs' granddaughter, Ruth Holmberg.

In a house divided, Ochs sided with his mother's cause. When he died in 1935, the United Daughters of the Confederacy "sent a pillow, the top of which bore a flowered likeness of the Stars and Bars of the Southern Confederacy" to be placed in his coffin, according to his Times obituary.

"[Ochs] once said, 'The South is part of my religion,'" Jackowe said, gesturing to the mosaic border design. "That's an appropriate symbol for somebody who would make a proclamation like that."

Flag theory 'ridiculous'

New York subway historian Joe Brennan dismissed the Confederate flagtheories as "ridiculous."

"While [Ochs] did live in Tennessee afterwards and was in the newspaperbusiness there until 1896, that is barely Southern heritage," Brennan said.

"Being Jewish, he would not have fit in with the growing Klan movement bythat date."

Brennan questioned why other motifs repeated around the station did notreceive the same level of scrutiny.

But Jackowe argues the specific colours and patterns of the Confederate flagmotif would not have gone unnoticed by an artist like Vickers.

"This is one of the most recognizable and evocative symbols in Americanculture," he said.

Jackowe believes the MTA is trying to have it both ways, by stating thesymbols have no meaning, while also stating they depict a "crossroads" or aconvergence of subway lines.

He contends there could be a double meaning.

"Why can't it also be a reference to the symbol of the South at the sametime?" he said. "When I look at this, I think it's a tongue-in-cheek referencethat we know we're in the basement of a Southerner."

Jackowe spent hours in Brooklyn's MTA archives and the New York PublicLibrary reading about Ochs's past. He wrote his 2012 article about thesubway mosaics for the Civil War Times, he said, with no political agenda.

"It was just meant to critique a work of art," he said.

'Never really noticed it'

As the Times observed, most subway commuters in a mad dash to catch thenext train on a Tuesday bypassed the contentious designs without lookingup.

"I never really noticed it. I don't think they're Confederate flags. It's NewYork City, it's not the South," said one commuter, who gave the nameBarbara.

Randy Thomas did stop, if only for a moment, while on his way to theuptown platform.

"The colour scheme. You got the red, the white, the blue cross, I can see it,"he said.

But did Thomas also see a controversial tribute to Southern pride?

"Not really," he said. "I usually just walk right by it. But people will findwhat they want to look for."