The Commission to Redesign the Mississippi State Flag met this week at the Two Mississippi Museums and selected the “New Magnolia Flag” to become the new state flag. The commissioners submitted the design to the governor and the legislature as instructed in House Bill 1796, which established the commission. Mississippians will vote whether to approve the flag design on Nov. 3.

The commission voted to brand the flag the “In God We Trust” flag.

Designed by Rocky Vaughan — with design support provided by Sue Anna Joe, Kara Giles, Dominique Pugh, and Micah Whitson — the design features a white magnolia on a blue banner with red and gold bars on each end. The magnolia is encircled by 20 five-point stars, plus a star representing indigenous Native Americans, and the words “In God We Trust.”

“Our flag should reflect the beauty and good in all of us. It should represent a state that deserves a positive image,” said Vaughan. “The New Magnolia Flag represents the warmth and strength of the good people of Mississippi. Now is the time we show the world that we’re from Mississippi, the Magnolia State.”

Tribal Chief Cyrus Ben, Sherri Carr Bevis, Frank Bordeaux, Mary Graham, Betsey Hamilton, Robyn Tannehill, T.J. Taylor and J. Mack Varner served on the commission. Judge Reuben Anderson chaired the commission.

“No one worked harder to change Mississippi’s flag than Gov. William Winter,” said Anderson, who is also president of the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. “I am thinking of him today as Mississippi takes this historic step toward selecting a state flag that will unify us and make us proud. I am grateful to our state leadership and my colleagues on the commission for their commitment to moving Mississippi forward.”

“MDAH was proud to support the Flag Commission in its historic work,” said MDAH director Katie Blount. “We were especially gratified to see the public engage so significantly in the process. The commissioners worked hard, listening to the experts and to the people, and they came up with a great design to present to voters on Nov. 3.”

On July 1, 2020, Mississippi retired the state’s 1894 flag — the last state flag in the nation to incorporate the Confederate battle flag. The legislature directed that the new design must not include contain that flag but must include the words “In God We Trust.”

All meetings are archived on MDAHvideo on YouTube.com.