Mississippi is a southern U.S. state with the Mississippi River to its west, Alabama to its east, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south.
Its Mississippi Delta region is considered the birthplace of blues music, honored at the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale. The state comprises many people from different backgrounds, cultures and experiences. When you think about Mississippi’s history, you think about everything from slavery and racism to food and music, which brings me to today’s topic.
Designed by Edward N. Scudder and adopted in 1894, the second state flag was a triband with three equal horizontal stripes of blue, white and red, topped with the Confederate battle flag.
There were 13 stars on the state flag representing "the number of the original states of the union."
However, some believed they represented the states that seceded from the Union, plus Missouri and Kentucky, ruled by both Confederate and Union governments. This was the only state flag to incorporate the Confederate battle flag into its design from 1894 to 1956 and 2003 to 2020. Georgia was the other state flag that did so between 1956 and 2003.
As a result of the George Floyd protests in 2020, Mississippi state legislators proposed omitting the Confederate flag from flag designs, which passed and was signed into law by Gov. Tate Reeves.
Nearly half of the citizens of Mississippi have historically viewed the Confederate flag as a symbol of power and dominance. In practical terms, the Confederate battle flag and the state flag were alike: from night-riding Klansmen to different governors, all were using either or both flags to convey the message that the Magnolia State would always be dominated by white men, a state where Black men and women had no power, no role other than subservience. Mississippi held onto its flag until the Civil Rights Movement changed the country and the state, asserting that the emblem symbolized heritage, not hatred.
In 2020, the Mississippi State Legislature passed a bill repealing the sections of the Mississippi State Code that provided for a state flag, which mandated that the Mississippi Department of Archives and History develop a plan for removing the former flag within 15 days of the bill's effective date, and established a commission to design a replacement flag that included the U.S. national motto “In God We Trust.”
Therefore, the Mississippi flag consists of a white magnolia blossom surrounded by 21 stars. The words ‘In God We Trust’ are written below, all put over a blue Canadian pale with two vertical gold borders on a red field.
Last month, Republican State Senator Kathy Chism said that the Mississippi State Legislature should not have changed the Confederate-themed 1894 state flag and said, “A lot of our people fought and died under that flag.”
This topic will likely be a key issue in the upcoming months and in the 2024 legislative session. The issue is sensitive for those on one side who claim many have lost their lives under the flag and those who believe it ties into the prejudiced history the state holds on its soil.
Putting together a giant Venn diagram on a whiteboard for everyone to write on might help to solve this long-standing issue.
