Saturday 11 July 2020

Mississippi State Flag

Mississippi State flag 1894-2020
On 28th  June 2020, the Mississippi Legislature passed a bill to repeal the sections of the Mississippi State Code which made provisions for a state flag, mandate the removal of the former flag from public buildings within 15 days of the bill's effective date, and establish a commission to design a replacement that would exclude the Confederate battle flag and include the U.S. national motto. The Governor signed the Bill into law on 30th June.
The current flag being the subject of controversy due to the inclusion of the Confederate Battle flag in the Canton. 
Interestingly however this is neither the first State flag nor the state flag used in the US Civil War. 
The first flag to be formally adopted by the Mississippi Convention was a white flag featuring the state tree of Mississippi the Magnolia tree. It had a blue canton with a single white five pointed star. Everything surrounded by a red border. 
Mississippi flag 1861-1865
Public Domain
After the Civil War official use of this flag ceased and the current flag was adopted in 1894. 
So Given that a new a law has been passed to change the flag I'm going to throw my metaphorical hat into the ring with a proposal. It is largely based off the Mississippi design in my American State flag redesigns post but as I am not seeking to redesign all the state flags to conform to a uniformed patter without the restrictions I placed on myself in that post.
So here is my first attempt:
It is features all the colours of the current/old flag and the layout is reflective of the three blue, white and red bars of that flag. However rather than bars I used white waves to symbolise the Mississippi River. Above is a heraldic representation of the flower of the Magnolia tree which is the state tree of Mississippi. I would rather not have put text on it but given the law states a new flag for some reason must have the US national motto on it, I have placed it in a circular layout in the centre of the flower. 
Considering that flags are moving objects I thought it might be better if the Magnolia blossom was off centre towards the hoist almost like a canton. This way it should be more visible both when the flag is waving and at rest. 
I am a big fan of American state flags featuring a star as if that is their star in the national flag.

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I would like to put a star in the centre of the blossom so that is the case with this flag, however with the motto I think the addition of the star might clutter things. Generally speaking less is more when it comes to flag design, however I still tried this anyway to see how it would look and I don't think it looks to bad.

2 comments:

  1. Hi! I have been googling around (after first going through a huge pile of magazines at home) trying to find reference to an article in the Smithsonian Magazine from many decades ago about redesigning U.S. state flags. Anyway, I've found you!
    From what I've seen briefly, your work looks stunning. My husband, who has not been notoriously admiring of my interest in heraldry, forever, recently received a commission that includes some (we are calligraphers, long resident in Catalonia). He can look things up, and copy them. But I am trying to give him some information - not sure where I got it all - about executing heraldry from blazon, and making the elements as large as can comfortably fit, in ones own style, clear & correct, rather than the piddly little clip-art like devices one finds in Wikipedia articles. I'm going to be reading a lot of this site, starting today. But if you, out of the goodness of your heart [or a mad desire to see the world's heraldry be less mealy-mouthed & wimpy] could offer me any further references, I would be thrilled. I should add that I am always offering people free (& often unsolicited) advice about calligraphy, hoping tomake the world's lettering less... bad. & if I can do anything for you in return, please let me know.
    I'm clicking "notify me" here...

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  2. PS - I think this particular flag is gorgeous. I think the words are too small & the letterform weak. I also think the idea of the star is excellent & reflects the idea of each state represented as a star on the nation's flag.
    Should there be words on a flag, in general? I'll know more when I've read more here.

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