In January of 1988, Aaron Henry, a state representative from Clarksdale, MS and the President of the Mississippi NAACP, attempted to introduce legislation that would replace the Mississippi state flag. At that time, the state flag still featured the Confederate battle flag as an element in the top left corner—a design in use since 1894. Henry told the Afro-American, a Black newspaper from Baltimore, that his bill asked for the consideration of flag designs that “would not be negative to any particular group.”[1]
Henry’s proposal came after a significant lobbying effort launched earlier that same week by the NAACP Southern Regional Director, Earl Shinhoster, to ban the Confederate symbol from Southern state capitols and flags. By January 9th, Shinhoster had gathered 16,000 signatures on petitions circulated throughout the South.[2]
Henry’s bill, however, was never brought to floor for a vote. He tried to introduce it several more times in 1990, 1992, and 1993, but none of these bills were ever entertained on the state house floor.[3]
It wasn’t until 2000 that Mississippi lawmakers were forced to reckon with the controversy. In May of that year, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled that the 1894 Mississippi flag was not a valid state symbol since it was not included in the updated state code of 1906.[4] Following this ruling, a commission was formed to decide whether or not the state should consider adopting a new design. The seventeen-person commission held five public hearings to allow residents to voice their opinions.
An article written by Associated Press (AP) reporter Gina Holland and republished in the Philadelphia Tribune described these hearings as “grueling.” They often devolved into “shouting matches, largely divided along racial lines, between flag opponents who say the Confederate banner is a reminder of slavery and supporters who argue it’s a symbol of their heritage.” Reportedly, at more than one hearing there were “accounts of racial attacks involving Rebel flag-waving Ku Klux Klan members.”[5]
Mississippians were offered two flag designs to choose from: the original from 1894 or a modified version that replaced the Confederate battle emblem with 20 white stars on a blue background. The 20 stars represented Mississippi’s position as the 20th state admitted to the union.[6] Despite the intense friction in the hearings, Mississippi House Speaker Tim Ford and Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck told the AP (in a report reprinted in the Los Angeles Sentinel) that “people [would] accept whatever comes of the election.”[7]
While several Black newspapers used AP reports in their coverage of the issue some Black papers used original reporting. Unlike the AP articles, Black journalists spent more time focusing on individual citizen reactions, particularly Black Mississippians.
In the run-up to the vote, the Atlanta Daily World covered the split reaction toward the flag among Black residents of Mississippi. The World reported on a survey conducted by the Clarion-Ledger, a state paper, finding that 20 percent of Black voters wanted to keep the 1894 state flag design. It also found that 19 percent of Black voters agreed with the statement “The Confederate battle symbol is a part of the state’s proud history and traditions and therefore should not be removed from the flag.” The World spoke to two Black state residents who said they were not offended by the flag.[8]
On April 17, 2001, the 1894 design with the Confederate emblem won around two-thirds of the vote. Similar to pre-vote reporting patterns, AP reports highlighted the reactions of lawmakers while Black journalists focused on Black citizens.
One AP article covered high-ranking Mississippi politicians calling for an end to the flag issue after the vote. Gov. Ronnie Musgrove released a statement saying, “We must put aside our differences as we continue to create a state that provides a good quality of life for our people.” Another politician told AP he hoped Mississippians would accept the results without calling for boycotts or other pressuring tactics. He also contended that Black people were not upset with the flag and that the controversy had been stirred up by the state’s former governor. Contrary to this assertion, the AP reported that Mississippi’s only Black congressman at the time, Bernie Thompson, refused to fly the flag in his Washington office.[9]
The National Newspaper Publishers Association (a press association of over 200 Black owned newspapers from around the United States[10]) News Wire captured the Black reaction to the vote. They quoted Deborah Denard, acting director of voting empowerment of the NAACP State Conference, as saying Black people in Mississippi were “disappointed but not surprised.”[11] The Atlanta Daily World also covered Black reactions. Mary Beth Jones, a resident of Pass Christian, MS, told the paper that she did not mind if individual Mississippians wanted to fly the flag on their property “but they shouldn’t be putting it on state property where I have to pay taxes for it.”[12]
In July 2001, the Atlanta Daily World reported that the NAACP voted to condemn the Confederate emblem on the flag and urged businesses not to open or relocate to Mississippi until the flag was changed. Despite anticipation of a formal economic boycott of the state—as took place in South Carolina—NAACP President Kweisi Mfume held back. Not all Black civilians agreed with this decision. A representative of one grassroots civil rights organization in Gulfport argued “The only thing that’s going to bring pressure to bear on the folks in Mississippi is affecting the flow of dollars.”[13] He also took issue with the fact that some African Americans did not seem bothered by the flag:
Racism to those folks is not a big deal. White supremacy to those same folks is not a big deal. Do you understand that after slaves were freed in the South there were Black folks who did not want to leave their master’s plantation? That is no more than slave mentality and that is the same thing that fuels White supremacy. If South Africans would have said, “Don’t boycott us,” guess what? The White regime would still be in charge of South Africa.[14]
Divisions within the Black community over the flag issue were also on display in op-eds in Black newspapers.
Academic and activist Loretta J. Ross wrote a guest column condemning the flag that was published by both the New Journal and Guide and the Winston-Salem Chronicle. She asserted that Mississippi’s decision to keep the flag was evidence of the state’s refusal “to join the New South” and allow Black people to feel equal in the state.
The Mississippi vote used a democratic process to abuse a democratic value. The result affirmed a symbol of oppression…Flag supporters say that because the flag was adopted in 1894, it was not in response to the civil-rights movement. Their historical amnesia obliterates what was happening in 1894: the lynching of blacks and the resurgence of white supremacy. They claim that the Confederate flag has been wrongly appropriated by the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and Skinheads. But these defenders of Southern heritage never seem to ask why hate groups find the symbol so appropriate for their purposes.[15]
Ross ended the piece by calling on the state legislature to override the referendum and change the state flag.
The editorial staff of the NNPA also advocated for the 1894 flag to be taken down, the referendum results notwithstanding. In a guest piece featured in the Atlanta Daily World, the NNPA staff declared:
By taking the moral high ground by rebuking the flag of the pro-slavery Confederacy and the banner of the Ku Klux Klan, Mississippians who are against the flag are already reigning [sic] in victory. To turn this symbolic victory into a tangible reality, the demand must now be made to take it down. It took an economic boycott to topple the Confederate flag at the helm of South Carolina’s leadership…Power indeed concedes nothing without a demand. The necessary demand must be brought to bear to crush that nostalgic yearning for the lost White cause. The moral high ground of this position will ultimately free us all.[16]
Arguing for the other side, author Earl Ofari Hutchinson wrote a guest column for the Winston-Salem Chronicle affirming that the flag was “an empty symbol of a dead past” and should not be seen as a major issue for Black Americans.[17] He argued that a significant number of Black Mississippians were unbothered by the flag, citing data from an AP poll.[18] Hutchinson also pointed out that Black people had more pressing concerns:
In the past decade, dozens of Mississippi black farmers have had their farms foreclosed on by bankers and government agencies. The state’s historically black colleges waged a 26-year titanic legal battle to force the state to equalize spending. Even if Mississippi state officials defied the popular vote and dumped the flag in a museum it would be a pyrrhic victory. It would not save one black farm, improve failing public schools, increase funds for black colleges, create more jobs or reduce poverty.[19]
Any sort of boycott, he added, would only make Black Mississippians’ economic situations worse.[20]
As a result of Mississippi keeping the flag with the Confederate emblem, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) ruled in May of 2001 that basketball championship events could no longer be held in Mississippi. This ruling, however, did not apply to universities being able to hold regional NCAA tournament games, as was reported by an AP report published in the Philadelphia Tribune.[21]
In April of 2007, the Winston-Salem State University Student Newspaper reported that the Black Coaches Association—a group existing within the NCAA—lobbied the NCAA to expand the ban to sports such as baseball and football in protest of the flag.[22] In 2020, following the murder of George Floyd and a national resurgence in demands for racial justice, there was another push for the ban to be expanded to cover more sports and a full ban went into effect in mid-June.[23]
On June 28, 2020 the state legislature passed a bill to change the state flag and four designs were put forward for citizens to vote on in a referendum. The current Mississippi flag design—a white magnolia flower in the middle of a blue field surrounded by white stars, with a red bar on either side—won with 73 percent of the vote and became the official state flag on January 11, 2021.[24]
Olivia Haynie
Please cite as:
Haynie, Olivia. “‘Crush that Nostalgic Yearning for the Lost White Cause’: The Campaign to Revise the Mississippi State Flag.” False Image of History: Perspectives on Confederate Commemoration from the Black Press (online). Fall 2024 Edition. Schaefer, Donovan O., ed. URL = https://falseimage.pennds.org/essay/“crush-that-nostalgic-yearning-for-the-lost-white-cause”-the-campaign-to-revise-the-mississippi-state-flag/.
References
Afro-American (Baltimore, MD). “Mississippi lawmaker wants flag changed.” January 9, 1988.
Atlanta Daily World. “Not All Blacks Want To Replace Mississippi Flag.” February 8, 2001.
Curry, Constance. “Aaron Henry: A Civil Rights Leader of the 20th Century.” Mississippi History Now. mshistorynow.madah.ms.gov, February, 2011.
Editorial Staff of the national office of The National Newspaper Publishers Association. “Take Mississippi Flag Down.” Atlanta Daily World, May 10, 2001.
Gallant, Jacob. “NCAA bans Mississippi from holding any championships over state flag.” WLBT.com, June 19, 2020. https://www.wlbt.com/2020/06/19/ncaa-bans-mississippi-hold-any-championships-over-state-flag/.
Holland, Gina. “Commission faces vote on Mississippi’s state flag.” Philadelphia Tribune, November 17, 2000.
Hutchinson, Earl Ofari. “Why many blacks backed the Confederate flag.” Winston-Salem Chronicle, April 26, 2001.
Martin, Roland S. “NAACP Condemns Mississippi Flag.” Atlanta Daily World, July 15, 2001.
New Pittsburgh Courier. “Mississippi flag.” March 10, 2001.
NNPA Newswire. “Mississippi black leaders disappointed but not surprised by vote keeping the state flag.” Winston-Salem Chronicle, April 26, 2001
Ratliff, Christopher. “NCAA/BCA pushes for expansion of Confederate flag ban.” Winston-Salem State University Student Newspaper, April 16, 2007.
Ross, Loretta J. “Not much has changed in Mississippi.” New Journal and Guide, June 13, 2001.
Russo, Ralph D. “NCAA rules Mississippi can’t hold championship events.” Philadelphia Tribune, May 1, 2001.
Wagster, Emily. “Mississippi flag keeps Confederate emblem.” Philadelphia Tribune, April 20, 2001
Wagster, Emily. “Mississippi’s Flag Election Shapes Up as Internal Battle.” Los Angeles Sentinel, April 12, 2001.
Wikipedia. “Flag of Mississippi.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Mississippi#Third\_flag\_(2020–present).
Afro-American (Baltimore, MD). “Mississippi lawmaker wants flag changed.” ↩︎
Afro-American (Baltimore, MD). “Mississippi lawmaker wants flag changed.” ↩︎
Curry. “Aaron Henry: A Civil Rights Leader of the 20th Century.” Mississippi History Now. ↩︎
Wagster. “Mississippi flag keeps Confederate emblem.” Philadelphia Tribune. ↩︎
Holland. “Commission faces vote on Mississippi’s state flag.” Philadelphia Tribune. ↩︎
New Pittsburgh Courier. “Mississippi flag.” ↩︎
Wagster. “Mississippi’s Flag Election Shapes Up as Internal Battle.” Los Angeles Sentinel. ↩︎
Atlanta Daily World. “Not All Blacks Want To Replace Mississippi Flag.” ↩︎
Wagster. “Mississippi flag keeps Confederate emblem.” Philadelphia Tribune. ↩︎
National Newspaper Publishers Association. https://nnpa.org ↩︎
NNPA Newswire. “Mississippi black leaders disappointed but not surprised by vote keeping the state flag.” Winston-Salem Chronicle. ↩︎
Martin. “NAACP Condemns Mississippi Flag.” Atlanta Daily World. ↩︎
Martin. “NAACP Condemns Mississippi Flag.” Atlanta Daily World. ↩︎
Martin. “NAACP Condemns Mississippi Flag.” Atlanta Daily World. ↩︎
Ross. “Not much has changed in Mississippi.” New Journal and Guide. ↩︎
Editorial Staff of the national office of The National Newspaper Publishers Association. “Take Mississippi Flag Down.” Atlanta Daily World. ↩︎
Hutchinson. “Why many blacks backed the Confederate flag.” Winston-Salem Chronicle. ↩︎
Hutchinson. “Why many blacks backed the Confederate flag.” Winston-Salem Chronicle. ↩︎
Hutchinson. “Why many blacks backed the Confederate flag.” Winston-Salem Chronicle. ↩︎
Hutchinson. “Why many blacks backed the Confederate flag.” Winston-Salem Chronicle. ↩︎
Russo. “NCAA rules Mississippi can’t hold championship events.” Philadelphia Tribune. ↩︎
Ratliff. “NCAA/BCA pushes for expansion of Confederate flag ban.” Winston-Salem State University Student Newspaper. ↩︎
Gallant. “NCAA bans Mississippi from holding any championships over state flag.” WLBT.com ↩︎
Wikipedia. “Flag of Mississippi.” ↩︎