Flag of Mississippi

Flag of Mississippi

Use	Civil and state flag
Proportion	2:3
Adopted	April 23, 1894
Design	Three horizontal stripes of blue, white and red. The canton is square, spans 2 stripes, and Confederate Battle Flag.

The Flag of the State of Mississippi was adopted by the U.S. state of Mississippi in 1894. It is the only United States state flag that incorporates the Battle Flag of the Confederacy.

Pledge to the Mississippi State Flag

The pledge to the state flag is:

I salute the flag of Mississippi and the sovereign state for which it stands with pride in her history and achievements and with confidence in her future under the guidance of Almighty God.

—^[1]

1861 flag

The Magnolia Flag

When Mississippi seceded from the Union on January 9, 1861, near the beginning of the Civil War, the Bonnie Blue Flag (a single white star on a blue field) was raised over the capitol building in Jackson as a sign of independence. On January 26, Mississippi officially adopted a new flag which included the Bonnie Blue Flag in its canton and a magnolia tree in its center field. Known as the Magnolia Flag, it remained in use until 1894.

2001 flag referendum

2001 proposed flag of Mississippi

In 2000, the Supreme Court of Mississippi ruled^[2] that state legislation in 1906 had repealed the adoption of the state flag in 1894, so what was considered to be the official state flag was only so through custom and usage.^[3] Governor Ronnie Musgrove appointed an independent commission which developed a new proposed design,^[3] and on April 17, 2001, a state referendum to change the flag was put before Mississippi voters. The proposal would have replaced the Confederate battle flag with a blue canton with 20 stars. The outer ring of 13 stars would represent the original Thirteen Colonies, the ring of six stars would represent the six nations that have had sovereignty over Mississippi territory (various Indian nations as a collective nation, France, Spain, Great Britain, the United States, and the Confederate States), and the inner and slightly larger star would represent Mississippi itself. The 20 stars would also represent Mississippi's status as the 20th member of the United States.^[4] The new flag was soundly defeated in a vote of 64% to 36% and the old flag was retained.^[5]

See also

Mississippi portal

• Symbols of the State of Mississippi
• Great Seal of the State of Mississippi
• Flags of the Confederate States of America

References

1. ^ Miss. Code Ann., Section 37-13-7 (1972)
2. ^ Mississippi Division of the United Sons of Confederate Veterans v. Mississippi State Conference of NAACP Branches, 774 So.2d 388 (Miss. 2000)
3. ^ ^{a b} Dedman IV, James M. (Fall 2001). "At Daggers Drawn: The Confederate Flag and the School Classroom - A Case Study of a Broken First Amendment Formula". Baylor Law Review 53: 877, 883. 
4. ^ "Mississippi will retain its 107-year-old flag". CNN. 2001-04-17. http://archives.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/04/18/mississippi.flag/index.html. Retrieved 2007-10-21. 
5. ^ "Election Results" (PDF). State of Mississippi. 2001-04-27. Archived from the original on 2007-11-26. http://web.archive.org/web/20071126205132/http://www.sos.state.ms.us/elections/FlagVote/CountyScans/CertStateResults.pdf. Retrieved 2007-10-21. 

External links

• Mississippi State Symbols