Mississippi Says Goodbye to Confederate Emblem and Adopts a New State Flag

Mississippians have voted in favor of the ballot initiative Measure 3 and will replace their controversial state flag with a new one, according to the New York Times and the Associated Press.

The new flag, named the “In God We Trust” flag, will put to rest a decades-long debate over the flag that the state used for 126 years, which features a Confederate emblem.

The new design was commissioned and approved by the Commission to Redesign the Mississippi State Flag, set up by the state legislature after the body voted to do away with the old flag. It prominently features a magnolia flower — the state flower — encircled by 20 white stars, a nod to Mississippi’s status as the 20th state to join the US. A larger yellow star sits directly above the flower to represent the Choctaw origins of the state, and all the icons sit on a dark blue and red striped background. The design was selected from just under 3,000 other submissions.

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill to remove the Confederate emblem from the state flag in early July after years of local and national pressure from sports groups and advocacy organizations that argued the flag was racist relic of hatred, slavery, and oppression.