Flag of Mississippi
The flag of the U.S. state of Mississippi was adopted on January 11, 2021, replacing the previous design discontinued in 2020. Its design consists of a white magnolia blossom surrounded by 21 stars and the words "In God We Trust" written below, all put over a blue Canadian pale with two vertical gold borders on a red field. The topmost star, gold and composed of a pattern of five diamonds, "represents... the... Native American tribes of... Mississippi"; the other 20 stars are white and " Mississippi as the twentieth state" of the U.S.
The flag was designed by Rocky Vaughan, "with support " Sue Anna Joe, Kara Giles, and Dominique Pugh. It was chosen by the "Commission to Redesign the Mississippi State Flag", and was submitted for public vote as a ballot measure on November 3, 2020. The bill required that "the design of the Confederate Battle Flag" not be included on the proposed design and the motto "In God We Trust" be included. Voters were asked to "vote ‘Yes’ or ‘No’" on the proposed flag; they were not given the option to vote to retain the old flag.
It is one of three U.S. state flags to feature the words "In God We Trust", with the other two being those of Florida and Georgia.
Statute
Design of the flag
The 2024 Mississippi Code, Title 3, § 3-3-16, simplified, describes the state flag as follows:Dimensions 3:5, but variable, with two vertical bars at the hoist and the fly; the red outer bars are five times wider than the inner gold bars, flanking a blue central panel. In the center of the panel is a stylized white magnolia blossom with a stamen in gold, surrounded by a circle of twenty white five-pointed stars. The circle is completed at the top by a gold five-point segmented star and at the bottom by the motto 'IN GOD WE TRUST' in capital letters and Americana font.
Colors
The statute further defines the colors of the state flag as follows:| Name | Web color | Pantone | Usage on Flag |
| Old Glory Red | 200 C | Outer vertical bars | |
| Old Gold | 7563 C | Inner vertical bars; stamen of the magnolia | |
| Old Glory Blue | 282 C | Central panel | |
| White | White | Magnolia blossom; twenty-five stars |
Symbolism
The statute concludes with an explanation of the intended symbolism of the design: the magnolia represents the state flower, hospitality, hope, and rebirth; the circle of twenty stars denotes Mississippi as the twentieth state, with the top gold star honoring Indigenous peoples and symbolizing the five inhabited continents; the blue central panel echoes the American flag and signifies vigilance, justice, and perseverance; the red bars symbolize hardiness and valor; and the gold bars and magnolia stamen represent Mississippi’s rich cultural history in the visual and performing arts.History
Mississippi has had three official state flags in its history. The first flag, known as the "Magnolia Flag", was adopted in 1861 and remained in use until 1865. The state was then left without an official flag until the second one was adopted in 1894. In 2020, state legislators proposed new flag designs, leading to the adoption of the current flag the following year.First flag (1861–1865)
Before 1861, Mississippi lacked a flag. When the State Convention at the Capitol in Jackson declared its secession from the United States on January 9, 1861, near the start of the American Civil War, spectators in the balcony handed a Bonnie Blue flag down to the state convention delegates on the convention floor, and one was raised over the state capitol building in Jackson as a sign of independence. Later that night, residents of Jackson paraded through the streets under the banner. Harry McCarthy, an Irish singer and playwright who observed the street parade, was inspired to write the patriotic song "The Bonnie Blue Flag."The first flag was known as the "Magnolia flag." It was the official state flag from March 30, 1861, until August 22, 1865. On January 26, 1861, the delegates to the state convention approved the report of a special committee that had been appointed to design a coat of arms and "a suitable flag." The flag recommended by the committee was a "Flag of white ground, a magnolia tree in the, a blue field in the upper left hand corner with a white star in the, the Flag to be finished with a red border and a red fringe at the extremity of the Flag." Due to time constraints and the pressure to raise "means for the defense of the state," the delegates neglected to adopt the flag officially in January but did so when they reassembled in March 1861. The Magnolia Flag was not widely used during the war, as the various Confederate flags were displayed more frequently. Following the war's end, a state constitutional convention nullified many of the ordinances and resolutions passed by the State Convention of 1861. Among those nullified was the ordinance of March 1861 "to provide a Coat of Arms and Flag for the State of Mississippi." Thus, the Magnolia Flag was declared to be "null and void" in 1865.
After the war Governor William L. Sharkey ordered the state militia carry the Stars and Stripes and a state flag described as bearing the coat of arms and motto of the state with name and number of the regiment.
Second flag (1894–2020)
On February 7, 1894, the Legislature replaced the Civil War era Magnolia Flag with a new one designed by Edward N. Scudder that incorporated the Confederate battle flag in its canton. This second state flag consisted of three equal horizontal triband of blue, white, and red, with the canton of the Confederate battle flag. The thirteen stars on the state flag officially represented "the number of the original states of the Union", although they are sometimes thought to be for the states that seceded from the Union, plus Missouri and Kentucky, which had both Confederate and Union governments.The Mississippi Code of 1972, in Title 3, Chapter 3, described the flag as follows:
In 1996, governor Daniel Fordice sent a memorandum to every manufacturer that produced a Mississippi flag, ordering for the stars in the canton to face upward, and for fimbriation to be added around the canton. The fimbriation was to be the same width as the white outline on the cross of the canton. Before 1996, the flag was often produced with unaligned stars and no fimbriation.
In 1906, Mississippi adopted a revised legal code that repealed all general laws that were not reenacted by the legislature or brought forward in the new code. The legislature inadvertently omitted mention of the 1894 flag, leaving the state with no official state flag from 1906 to 2001. In 2000, the Supreme Court of Mississippi confirmed that the state legislature had in 1906 repealed the 1894 adoption of the state flag; the flag used since then and considered official had actually only been customary or traditional.
From 1894 to 1956, and again from 2003 to 2020, this was the only state flag to incorporate the Confederate battle flag into its design, Georgia being the other from 1956 to 2003.
Current flag (2020–present)
In response to the George Floyd protests in 2020, state legislators proposed new flag designs omitting the Confederate flag.On June 9, 2020, lawmakers gathered votes and started drafting legislation to change the state flag. This was the first substantial action to change the state flag since the 2001 referendum. The proposed legislation would adopt Laurin Stennis's design as the new flag of Mississippi. With the support of Republican Speaker of the House, Philip Gunn, lawmakers began to court Republican state house members to vote for the resolution.
Gunn ensured that he would get the resolution passed through a House committee if verbal support from 30 Republicans was secured to go along with the 45 Democratic members of the House. An update on June 10 showed that lawmakers believed that they had secured at least 20 Republicans who were in favor of voting for the resolution to change the flag, while 20 more were on the fence. The lawmakers' goal was to secure at least 40 Republicans needed to suspend rules to allow a bill to be considered in the session. On June 11, Senate Democrats filed a resolution to change the state flag.
On June 18, 2020, the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, Greg Sankey, announced the SEC would consider banning championship events in Mississippi until the flag was changed. The SEC is the athletic conference for the two largest universities in Mississippi, Ole Miss and Mississippi State. The announcement by the conference was followed by support of changing the flag from Chancellor Glenn Boyce of the University of Mississippi and President Mark E. Keenum of Mississippi State University. The athletic directors of the universities, Keith Carter and John Cohen, also supported changing the flag, along with various coaches from the universities.On June 19, the National Collegiate Athletic Association banned all post-season play from occurring in Mississippi until the flag was changed. The NCAA had previously banned predetermined events such as football bowl games and men's basketball tournament games in 2001 from occurring in the state. The new rule would have also banned merit-based championship sites, such as baseball regionals, softball regionals, women's basketball tournament games and tennis tournament games. Ole Miss hosted both baseball and softball regionals in 2019. Mississippi State hosted a baseball regional, men's tennis tournament games and women's basketball tournament games in 2019.
Also on June 19, the leaders of the eight public universities in Mississippi issued a joint statement calling for a new state flag. On June 22, Conference USA banned all postseason play in Mississippi until the removal of the Confederate emblem from the state flag. Conference USA was home to the state's third largest university, Southern Miss, until moving to the Sun Belt Conference in 2023, and hosted its annual baseball tournament in Mississippi for eight times in nine years from 2011-19. On June 23, presidents of the fifteen community colleges in Mississippi issued a joint statement showing their support for a new flag.
The Mississippi Baptist Convention condemned the former state flag on June 23, 2020. In a statement, Baptist leaders said: "The racial overtones of the flag's appearance make this discussion a moral issue. Since the principal teachings of Scripture are opposed to racism, a stand against such is a matter of biblical morality." Walmart announced that it would cease displaying the state flag at its 85 Mississippi store locations on June 23, 2020. The retailer normally displays the applicable state flag alongside the U.S. national flag at its locations in the U.S.