Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Mississippi Surrenders Confederate Symbol From State Flag
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
June 29, 2020

Share

JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi will retire the last state flag in the U.S. with the Confederate battle emblem, more than a century after white supremacist legislators adopted the design a generation after the South lost the Civil War.
A broad coalition of lawmakers — Black and white, Democrat and Republican — voted Sunday for change as the state faced increasing pressure amid nationwide protests against racial injustice.

A broad coalition of lawmakers — Black and white, Democrat and Republican — voted Sunday for change as the state faced increasing pressure amid nationwide protests against racial injustice.
Mississippi has a 38% Black population, and critics have said for generations that it’s wrong to have a flag that prominently features an emblem many condemn as racist.
Democratic Sen. David Jordan told his colleagues just before the vote that Mississippi needs a flag that unifies rather than divides.
“Let’s do this because it’s the right thing to do,” Jordan said.
The Senate voted 37-14 to retire the flag, hours after the House voted 91-23.
Cheers rang out in the state Capitol after the Senate vote. Some spectators wept. Legislators embraced each other, many hugging colleagues who were on the opposing side of an issue that has long divided the tradition-bound state.
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves is expected to sign the bill into law in the next few days.
Democratic Rep. Robert Johnson of Natchez choked back tears as he told reporters that he has seen white colleagues develop more empathy about how the Confederate symbol is painful to him and other African Americans.
“They began to understand and feel the same thing that I’ve been feeling for 61 years of my life,” Johnson said.

Legislators Put Confederate Emblem on Mississippi Flag in 1894

A commission will design a new flag that cannot include the Confederate symbol and that must have the words “In God We Trust.” Voters will be asked to approve the new design in the Nov. 3 election. If they reject it, the commission will set a different design using the same guidelines, and that would be sent to voters later.
Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn, who is white, has pushed for five years to change the flag, saying the Confederate symbol is offensive.
“How sweet it is to celebrate this on the Lord’s day,” Gunn said.
Legislators put the Confederate emblem on the upper left corner of Mississippi flag in 1894, as white people were squelching political power that African Americans had gained after the Civil War.
In a 2001 statewide election, voters chose to keep the flag. An increasing number of cities and all Mississippi’s public universities have taken down the state flag in recent years. But until now, efforts to redesign the flag sputtered in the Republican-dominated Legislature.
That dynamic shifted as an extraordinary and diverse coalition of political, business, religious groups and sports leaders pushed for change.
At a Black Lives Matter protest outside the Mississippi Governor’s Mansion in early June, thousands cheered as an organizer said the state needs to divorce itself from all Confederate symbols.
Religious groups said erasing the rebel emblem from the state flag is a moral imperative. Notable among them was the state’s largest church group, the 500,000-member Mississippi Baptist Convention, which called for change last week after not pushing for it before the 2001 election.
Business groups said the banner hinders economic development in one of the poorest states in the nation.
In a sports-crazy culture, the biggest blow might have happened when college sports leagues said Mississippi could lose postseason events if it continued flying the Confederate-themed flag. Nearly four dozen of Mississippi’s university athletic directors and coaches came to the Capitol to lobby for change.

Removing Confederate Symbol From Banner Is ‘Long Overdue’

Many people who wanted to keep the emblem on the Mississippi flag said they see it as a symbol of heritage.
The battle emblem is a red field topped by a blue X with 13 white stars. The Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups have waved the rebel flag for decades.

The battle emblem is a red field topped by a blue X with 13 white stars. The Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups have waved the rebel flag for decades.
The Mississippi Supreme Court found in 2000 that when the state updated its laws in 1906, portions dealing with the flag were not included. That meant the banner lacked official status. The Democratic governor in 2000, Ronnie Musgrove, appointed a commission to decide the flag’s future. It held hearings across the state that grew ugly as people shouted at each other about the flag.
Legislators then opted not to set a flag design themselves, and put the issue on the 2001 statewide ballot.
Former Mississippi Gov. William Winter, who is now 97, served on then-President Bill Clinton’s national advisory board on race in the 1990s and was chairman of the Mississippi flag commission in 2000. Winter said Sunday that removing the Confederate symbol from the banner is “long overdue.”
“The battle for a better Mississippi does not end with the removal of the flag, and we should work in concert to make other positive changes in the interest of all of our people,” said Winter, a Democrat who was governor from 1980 until 1984.
Democratic state Sen. Derrick Simmons of Greenville, who is African American, said the state deserves a flag to make all people proud.
“Today is a history-making day in the state of Mississippi,” Simmons told colleagues. “Let’s vote today for the Mississippi of tomorrow.”

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

US Supreme Court Appears Likely to Uphold Obamacare’s Preventive Care Coverage Mandate

DON'T MISS

Woman in Fresno Mansion Fraud Case Sentenced to Prison for Tax Evasion

DON'T MISS

California Prisoner Indicted for Exploiting Child Victim While Incarcerated

DON'T MISS

Kennedy Plans to Phase Out 8 Commonly Used Food Dyes

DON'T MISS

The Superintendent Search Document FUSD Does Not Want You to See

DON'T MISS

Trump Approval Rating Dips. Many Wary of His Wielding of Power, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

DON'T MISS

Fresno Woman, Tied to Fentanyl ‘M30 King,’ Sentenced to Federal Prison

DON'T MISS

Tesla Settles Wrongful Death Lawsuit Claiming Sudden Acceleration in Ohio Crash

DON'T MISS

Trump Is Dismantling the Education Dept. How That Might Harm Special Ed

DON'T MISS

Special Interests Pour More Than Half a Billion Into CA Lobbying

UP NEXT

Chargers in Need of Help at Wide Receiver and Tight End in the NFL Draft

UP NEXT

Magic Happens When Kids and Adults Learn to Swim. Tragedy Can Strike if They Don’t.

UP NEXT

Humanoid Robots Run a Chinese Half-Marathon Alongside Human Competitors

UP NEXT

Anti-Trump Protesters Turn Out to Rallies Across Country

UP NEXT

250 Years After America Went to War for Independence, a Divided Nation Battles Over Its Legacy

UP NEXT

Greg Cronin Fired as Coach of Anaheim Ducks After 2 Seasons

UP NEXT

Israeli Strikes on Gaza Kill More Than 90 People in 48 Hours, Palestinians Say

UP NEXT

US and Iran Advance Nuclear Talks to Expert Level After Rome Meeting

UP NEXT

Putin Announces an Easter Ceasefire as Russia and Ukraine Swap Hundreds of POWs

UP NEXT

NBA Playoff Guide: Who Plays When, How to Watch, What the Odds Are

Kennedy Plans to Phase Out 8 Commonly Used Food Dyes

45 minutes ago

The Superintendent Search Document FUSD Does Not Want You to See

47 minutes ago

Trump Approval Rating Dips. Many Wary of His Wielding of Power, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

56 minutes ago

Fresno Woman, Tied to Fentanyl ‘M30 King,’ Sentenced to Federal Prison

1 hour ago

Tesla Settles Wrongful Death Lawsuit Claiming Sudden Acceleration in Ohio Crash

2 hours ago

Trump Is Dismantling the Education Dept. How That Might Harm Special Ed

2 hours ago

Special Interests Pour More Than Half a Billion Into CA Lobbying

2 hours ago

Texas Walmart Shooter Who Killed 23 Avoids Death Penalty by Pleading Guilty

3 hours ago

Chevron Announces First Oil at Ballymore Project in US Gulf

4 hours ago

Fresno Barbershop Shooting Leaves Man Dead, Two Others Injured

4 hours ago

US Supreme Court Appears Likely to Uphold Obamacare’s Preventive Care Coverage Mandate

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court seemed likely to uphold a key preventive-care provision of the Affordable Care Act in a case heard Monday. Co...

25 minutes ago

25 minutes ago

US Supreme Court Appears Likely to Uphold Obamacare’s Preventive Care Coverage Mandate

Pilar Rose, 51, formerly of Fresno, pleaded guilty to tax evasion and obstructing an IRS audit, agreeing to forfeit her mansion and BMW after falsifying financial records to evade taxes and secure fraudulent loans. (Zillow)
33 minutes ago

Woman in Fresno Mansion Fraud Case Sentenced to Prison for Tax Evasion

Nathaniel Ray Diaz, 21, of Greenfield, is a California state prisoner who has been indicted on federal charges on Monday, April 21, 2025, for allegedly directing a minor to send sexually explicit images while serving time for previous offenses against the same child. (Shutterstock)
42 minutes ago

California Prisoner Indicted for Exploiting Child Victim While Incarcerated

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at a news conference about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest autism survey in Washington, April 16, 2025. In his first attempt to significantly change the nation’s food supply, Kennedy will direct food manufacturers to phase out eight petroleum-based food dyes that are found in hundreds of thousands of grocery-store staples, the department said on Monday, April 21. (Pete Kiehart/The New York Times)
45 minutes ago

Kennedy Plans to Phase Out 8 Commonly Used Food Dyes

47 minutes ago

The Superintendent Search Document FUSD Does Not Want You to See

President Donald Trump attends the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 21, 2025. (REUTERS/Leah Millis)
56 minutes ago

Trump Approval Rating Dips. Many Wary of His Wielding of Power, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

1 hour ago

Fresno Woman, Tied to Fentanyl ‘M30 King,’ Sentenced to Federal Prison

A Tesla logo is shown on a Model Y vehicle in Encinitas, California, U.S.,October 20, 2023. (REUTERS/Mike Blake)
2 hours ago

Tesla Settles Wrongful Death Lawsuit Claiming Sudden Acceleration in Ohio Crash

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend