The Confederate flag has stood proud and defiant for 54 years over the State Capitol grounds in Columbia, South Carolina. Today, it went down. It was about time.

The fact that the Confederate battle flag was displayed at the South Carolina State House has been controversial ever since it was first raised in 1961. It has been a burning issue in the Southern state for decades and it took a tragedy for the political climate to finally reach a state in which the supporters of the flag had to give up.

The tragedy, of course, was the June massacre at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in the city of Charleston, when a white supremacist terrorist opened fire after the service and killed 9 African American churchgoers.

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley signed the bill to remove the flag that many associate with the worst period in U.S. history and today at 9.45 a.m. the flag went down. For good. You can watch the signing of the bill and Gov. Haley’s brief accompanying speech below.