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This billboard put up by the League of the South is on the northbound side of Interstate 85 near downtown Montgomery, a few blocks from the First White House of the Confederacy. (Mike Cason/mcason@al.com)

MONTGOMERY, Alabama --- The League of the South has put up a billboard on Interstate 85 near downtown Montgomery with a one word message: Secede.

The league, which has called for secession since its founding 20 years ago and has been labeled as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, has information about its new billboard campaign on its website:

"The League of the South has a message all freedom-loving Southerners ought to hear. It is the message of Southern independence from a sinking, corrupt, and destructive government in Washington, DC."

Michael Hill, president of the league, said the billboard is the second of the campaign. Another 'Secede' billboard was posted in Tallahassee, Fla. And a third is planned for Atlanta this summer, Hill said.

Hill said the goal is to raise awareness of the league, attract people to its website and calls to its office seeking more information. He said the one-word message seems like a good way to do that.

"We tried to keep it very simple and make people think, 'What exactly are they talking about?' " Hill said.

But Hill said the call for secession is not just a publicity ploy.

"We've been around for 20 years and that was our objective from the very beginning, a free and independent South," said Hill, who lives near Florence.

Hill taught history at the University of Alabama and at Stillman College, a historically black college in Tuscaloosa, before becoming full-time president of the league in 1999, he said.

As for the hate group designation by the SPLC, Hill said he "couldn't care less."

"We expect them to paint us in the worst possible light," Hill said. "I just tell people to go to our website and make up their own mind."

Earlier this month, the league protested outside the SPLC's offices in Montgomery against the SPLC's efforts to fight Alabama's ban on same-sex marriage.

Hill was asked if a call for secession is realistic. He says history shows it is, and that even recent history has examples of stunning change.

"In the late 80s, I wouldn't have given you much chance of the Soviet Union falling apart. ... It happened very quickly, almost overnight. So you just never know."

If southern states did secede, Hill was asked if the ideal situation would allow blacks to be citizens with equal rights.

"That is the kind of thing in our ideal world that would be left up to individual states," he said.

Hill said the league has about 6,000 to 7,000 members. He said he does not know of any black members, but is not sure there aren't any. He said the league has had black members in the past.

Hill said he thought people who receive unearned benefits from the government, such as welfare, should not be allowed to vote because that is a conflict of interest.