The Commission to Redesign the Mississippi State Flag met on Tuesday, July 28, at the Two Mississippi Museums—the Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. Present were Reuben Anderson, Cyrus Ben, Sherri Carr Bevis, Frank Bordeaux, Betsey Hamilton, T.J. Taylor, and J. Mack Varner. Mary Graham and Robyn Tannehill joined the meeting via Zoom.
After Reuben Anderson called the meeting to order, the commission unanimously approved a plan for reviewing the hundreds of flag submissions and selecting a flag for the ballot by September 2. Only flags submitted by August 1 that meet the legislative criteria will be considered.
The flag submissions will be placed on the Mississippi Department of Archives and History’s website for public view on August 3. The commissioners will each choose twenty-five flags by August 7, narrowing more than a thousand entries to a maximum of 225. Commission members will then rank their top ten choices.
During the next meeting on August 14, the commissioners will select five flags for final consideration. These five flags will be placed on the MDAH website for public comment.
After expert Clay Moss presented about the principles of flag design, the commissioners voted to meet again on August 25 and September 2. The commission will select the final flag to submit to the governor and the Legislature at the September 2 meeting.
Each of the upcoming meetings will stream live on MDAH Facebook page. Watch the July 28 meeting here. The minutes from the July 22 are located here. For more information email info@mdah.ms.gov.
