Confederate flag to be brought down in flag-lowering ceremony in South Carolina

Ceremony is scheduled for Friday morning

(AP Images)

You have probably heard of a flag-raising ceremony, but on Friday, South Carolina will hold the rarer flag-lowering ceremony, officially ridding the State House of the Confederate flag.

The state House passed a bill early Thursday morning that calls for the removal of the flag from the grounds of the State House. The Senate had passed the bill earlier this week.

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is expected to sign the bill at a ceremony at 4 pm on Thursday and the flag will be taken down at a separate ceremony at 10 am on Friday.

Calls for the Confederate flag to come down grew after the massacre at a Charleston church that left nine black parishioners dead. Dylann Roof, a white man, has confessed to the shooting.

After the shooting, Mr Roof, who has been charged with the nine murders, surfaced in a number of photos displaying the Confederate flag as a symbol of racist hate.