What eight state flags look like then vs. now

State flags are changing. Here's what it tells us.

Dec 01, 2022

Flags are one of states’ biggest signifiers. When done right, they become symbols of state pride and part of pop culture. The rest of the U.S. wants what these states have.

Changing a flag is, of course, no trivial matter. In Mississippi it took two decades after a flag redesign referendum failed for a new one to be adopted. Utah launched a task force, commissioned a survey, and solicited more than 5,000 submissions during its process for a new flag, which could be approved next year.

The trend is away from relics of the confederacy, liken in Georgia and Mississippi, and away from so-called “seal-on-a-bedsheet” flags that show a state seal on a solid color background, like in Utah, should it finalize its new flag, and in Minnesota, where lawmakers also want to change their flag. States want flags that are distinctive and welcoming, and the Lost Cause is out. Another recent trend is stars to symbolize Native American tribes, which redesigned flags in Mississippi and Utah both include.

Here are eight state flags that have changed. Which state had the biggest glow-up? Who had it and lost it?

Colorado

Then: OK, Denver airport conspiracy theorists, did you know the Colorado flag used to have an Eye of Providence? An earlier version of the flag that was used until 1911 included the state’s seal on a blue background, which shows an All-Seeing Eye in a triangle (it’s still the state’s seal, btw 🦎). A Roman fasces sits above a shield with snow-capped mountains and a crossed pick and sledgehammer. The Latin phrase “Nil Sine Numine” means “nothing without the Deity.”

Now: Andrew Carlisle Carson designed Colorado’s C flag, which was adopted in 1911. Originally, the state didn’t specify the flag’s exact color shades or the size and location of the C, so there were variations made and liberties taken. “In comparison to most state flags, it's always had a very contemporary feel,” Denver Public Library special collections librarian Brian Trembath told Colorado Public Radio. “I can remember as a child thinking that it must have been something that was designed relatively recently because it always felt a little more modern, mainly because it didn't use the state seal at all.”

Georgia

Then: In 1956, a century after the Civil War ended, Georgia adopted a flag that was two-thirds confederate battle emblem. The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in the previous years in Brown v. the Board of Education that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, and the court’s decisions were a strong impetus for the design, according to the University of Georgia’s New Georgia Encyclopedia.

Now: Georgia adopted a new flag without the confederate saltire in 2004, but that doesn’t mean it still doesn’t include a Civil War-era reference. The current flag is based on the first flag of the confederacy, which had three stripes in red and white and 13 stars in a circle in the canton. Georgia added its state seal and “In God We Trust.”

Louisiana

Then: When Louisiana seceded from the Union in 1861, it adopted a flag with 13 stripes in red, white, and blue, and a yellow star in a red canton.

Now: For Louisiana’s centennial in 1912, the state adopted a flag showing a mother pelican with chicks in a nest and the phrase “Union Justice Confidence.” The pelican illustration was previously more cartoony, and in 2010, a new more realistic version was adopted. The pelican is vulning, or wounding itself. Zoom in and you can spot the three drops of red blood, which represent the state sacrificing for its citizens, according to the Times-Picayune. Hardcore.

Maine

Then: Maine’s first flag, adopted in 1901, showed a pine tree and blue North Star against a buff background. The simple design was favored by seamen, who wanted a flag that was easily recognizable from a distance, according to Maine Public Radio. The flag has experienced a resurgence in popularity, as has a version of the flag that uses a more simplified tree illustration. Still, state lawmakers rejected a measure last year that would have brought it back.

Now: Maine’s seal-on-a-bedsheet flag was adopted in 1909. The state’s coat of arms includes a pine tree, moose, farmer, seaman, and the Latin phrase “Dirigo” for “I Lead.”

Mississippi

Then: Beginning in 1894, Mississippi’s flag included the confederate saltire. It lasted nearly a century before receiving pushback from the University of Mississippi, which stopped using the flag in 1983 after a Black cheerleader refused to wave it, according to Vexillum, a publication of the North American Vexillological Association, or NAVA.

Now: Efforts to replace the Mississippi flag failed in 2001 and 2015, but in 2020 voters adopted the “New Magnolia Flag” designed by Rocky Vaughan. The magnolia is the state flower, the 20 white stars represent Mississippi being the 20th state, and the gold star represents the state’s indigenous Native Americans. The state legislature mandated the new flag include “In God We Trust.”

New Mexico

Then: Was this thing designed in Microsoft Paint? Known as the “Twitchell flag” for its designer, historian Ralph Emerson Twitchell, New Mexico’s first flag was chaotic, with a U.S. flag canton, “New Mexico” written in a font that gets smaller the further along it goes, a state seal, the words “The Sunshine State,” and the number 47 for being the 47th state. The flag was designed for the 1915 Pan American Exposition and later adopted as the official flag by the state legislature, according to the New Mexico History Museum. I love it.

Now: This is the new classic. New Mexico has the best state flag, according to both a 2013 USA Today reader contest and vexillologists survey by NAVA in 2001. Designed by physician and archeologist Harry Mera and adopted in 1925, the flag uses a sun symbol adopted from Zia Pueblo pottery. Mera used the symbol without permission from the Zia, and in the 1990s the indigenous nation asked the state for $1 million for every year the flag had flown. That totaled $70 million, though a lawsuit wasn’t filed, according to New Mexico Magazine.

Oklahoma

Then: Oklahoma’s first flag, adopted in 1911, was red with a 46 inside a star for being the 46th state. It fell out of favor during the following decade because of the association between the color red and communism.

Now: Oklahoma adopted a new flag in 1925 designed by artist Louise Fluke showing a bison-hide shield from the Osage Nation. The blue background was chosen because it appeared in a Choctaw flag used during the Civil War, and the feathers and crossed pipe and olive branch were meant as Native and European peace symbols, according to the National Museum of the American Indian. The original flag had no words, and the state name was added in 1941.

South Dakota

Then: South Dakota’s original flag was minimalist and double-sided. One side had a simple sun emblem and the words “South Dakota The Sunshine State.” The back had the state seal. Adopted in 1909, it was designed by legislative librarian Ida M. Anding. The cost of manufacturing a flag with two different sides meant the flag was rarely flown, according to South Dakota’s Bureau of Administration.

Now: In 1963, South Dakota simplified its flag by making it the same on both sides. The sun emblem got the boot and the seal was used on the front and back. In 1992, “The Sunshine State” was replaced with “The Mountain Rushmore State.”

Have you seen this?

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