JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann and House Speaker Philip Gunn presented the former Mississippi state flag to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH).
On Tuesday, Governor Tate Reeves signed a bill to remove the flag, which bears the Confederate battle emblem.
The flags flying above the State Capitol were lowered at 3:00 p.m. and presented to Hosemann and Gunn.
The ceremony proceeded to the Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, where Judge Reuben Anderson, president of the MDAH Board of Trustees, received the state flag.
Gunn released the following statement about the retirement of the former state flag:
The 1894 flag has flown over our state for 126 years, during which time our state saw good moments as well as some of it’s darkest. This retirement is a somber occasion but it also marks a beginning, a time for renewal, a time for carrying the best of Mississippi forward. We entrust this flag to the Museum of Mississippi History, where it belongs, to ever remind us as Mississippians of where we once were, how far we’ve come, and how much further we can go when we’re united under a new banner representing ALL Mississippians.
Philip Gunn, Speaker of the House (R-Miss.)
Hosemann released the following statement:
Today, we retire our flag for the last 125 years. We do not retire our future or, for that matter, our past. Our citizens will shortly select their flag for our future. It will contain the words “In God We Trust,” as does our State emblem. Never has this been more appropriate. While this is a historical event, it is but a second in the history of our State. In this second, we chart a course for our collective future for centuries. May God bless Mississippi.
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, R-Miss.
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