CHARLESTON, S.C. — For 15 years, South Carolina lawmakers refused to revisit the Confederate flag on Statehouse grounds, saying the law that took it off the dome was a bipartisan compromise, and renewing the debate would unnecessarily expose divisive wounds.

But opinions changed within five days of the massacre of nine people at a historic black church in Charleston, as a growing tide of Republicans joined the call to remove the battle flag from a Confederate monument in front of the Statehouse and put it in a museum.

On Monday, Gov. Nikki Haley did what a previous Republican governor found to be political suicide. Herself a Republican, she not only called for the flag’s removal but pledged to call legislators back to Columbia if they don’t deal with it in a special session Tuesday. Just hours before they return to work, a rally to bring the flag down will be held outside the Statehouse.

Haley’s announcement came days after authorities charged Dylann Storm Roof, 21, with murder. The white man appeared in photos holding Confederate flags and burning or desecrating U.S. flags, and purportedly wrote of fomenting racial violence.

Haley has for years deflected questions about the flag. But she said Monday she was moved by the outpouring of love and forgiveness that followed the “true hate” of the crime. She noted her entire family attended Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal on Sunday, when the church reopened its doors.