Mississippi voters have approved a new state flag featuring the state flower and state tree, the magnolia.
A majority of voters approved the new design on Election Day, replacing the previous design that featured a Confederate battle emblem.
Mississippi was the last state to have a flag highlighting the symbol from the Civil War that is widely condemned as racist. State lawmakers retired the old design in June amid protests and a national reckoning over racial injustice.
The new flag features a magnolia on a dark blue background with red and golden bars on either side. The magnolia is surrounded by white stars to represent Mississippi becoming the 20th state and one yellow star made of diamond shapes to represent the Native Americans who lived on the land before anyone else. It also features the phrase, "In God We Trust," which was a requirement of any new design.
Legislators will have to put the design into law now, which will happen during the regular session in 2021. It's expected to go through with little fuss because legislators already did the hard work of retiring a flag that some people in the state wanted to keep.
Additional reporting by Emily Wagster Pettus of the Associated Press.
