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Part of what is today the state of Mississippi was included in the West Florida Republic, which was proclaimed in 1810 by American settlers in opposition to Spanish rule. Their flag had a blue background with a single white star in the center. (A similar design was used in the 1830s by pro-independence Americans in Texas.) It was hoisted on January 9, 1861, when Mississippi passed its Ordinance of Secession prior to joining the Confederate States of America. The blue-and-white flag became known throughout the South as the Bonnie Blue Flag. On January 26, 1861, Mississippi adopted the Magnolia Flag, featuring the native tree on a white field; the canton was blue with a central white star, thus incorporating the Bonnie Blue design. The Magnolia Flag seems not to have been used after the end of the Civil War; however, the magnolia was designated the official state tree in 1938.
A new state constitution was adopted in 1890; it was the product of a white majority that wished to minimize the influence in state affairs of local blacks and of the federal government. As a symbol of the "redemption" of the whites' power, in February 1894 the legislature adopted the state flag that is still in existence. Probably created by Senator Scudder, the flag has three horizontal stripes that recall the Stars and Bars of the Confederacy, while its canton is the Confederate Battle Flag. The separation of the canton from the blue and red stripes by a white fimbriation (narrow border) was confirmed by gubernatorial decree in 1996. |
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Mississippi
Official name: State of Mississippi.
State nickname: the Magnolia State.
Total area: 48,286 sq mi, 125,060 sq km.
Population (2000): 2,844,658.
Population by race, origin (1997): white non-Hispanic 61.9%; white Hispanic 0.6%; black (including Hispanic) 36.4%; American Indian/Eskimo/Aleut 0.4%; Asian/Pacific Islander 0.7%.
Natural increase rate per 1,000 population (1995): 5.3 (U.S. avg. 6.0).
Gross domestic (state) product (1996): U.S.$56,400,000,000 (U.S.$20,800 per capita).
Land use (1992): federal land 5.8%; non-federal land 94.2%, of which forest 53.0%, cropland 19.3%, pasture 13.6%, rangeland 0.0%, urban and built-up areas 4.5%, other 3.8%.
Exports by state (1997): U.S.$2,290,000,000; percent of national total 0.37%.
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