Mississippi State Flag

Adopted in 1894.

The committee to design a State Flag was appointed by legislative action February 7, 1894, and provided that the flag reported by the committee should become the official flag.

The committee recommended for the flag "one with width two-thirds of its length; with the union square, in width two-thirds of the width of the flag; the ground of the union to be red and a broad blue saltier thereon, bordered with white and emblazoned with thirteen (13) mullets or five-pointed stars, corresponding with the number of the original States of the Union; the field to be divided into three bars of equal width, the upper one blue, the center one white, and the lower one extending the whole length of the flag.

Representative Timothy Alan Ford, 18th District and Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives, introduced House Bill 524 to provide for a statewide special election to choose a design for the Mississippi State Flag. This statewide election shall be held on Tuesday, April 17, 2001. The voters will be asked to vote for the 1894 State Flag design (current design) or a "proposed new state flag design". This new design replaces the canton of the 1894 design (red ground with blue saltire) with a blue canton feauring 20 stars in a concentric arrangement. This bill has been approved by the legislature and signed by the Governor of Mississippi. 488,630 to 267,812.

Voters in Mississippi on Tuesday, April 17, 2001, Mississippians voted overwhelmingly chose to continue flying a 107-year old state banner that prominently displays the Confederate battle cross, bucking a trend toward stripping the racially divisive emblem from public.venues in the South.

In a state where the legacy of segregation still haunts like a restless ghost, Tuesday's vote was seen by many as an opportunity to reconcile Mississippi's racist past and allow the state to take Its place among others representing a New South.

But despite an expensive campaign to convince residents that the old state flag could thwart social and economic progress in Mississippi, voters turned out in larger than expected numbers against a proposal to replace the 1894 flag, with its Confederate emblem of 13 white stars on a blue X. The rejected design would have replaced the cross with a circle of 20 white stars, denoting Mississippi's role as the 20th state.

Pledge to The Flag

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. Reference Miss. Code Ann., Section 37-13-7(1972)