The committee to design a State Flag was appointed by legislative action February 7，1894，and provided that the flag reported by the committee should become the official flag．The committee recommended for the flag ”one with width two－thirds of its length；with the union square，in width two－thirds of the width of the flag；the ground of the union to be red and a broad blue saltier thereon（在其上），bordered with white and emblazoned with thirteen（13）mullets（［鱼］胭脂鱼，鲻鱼）or five－pointed stars，corresponding with the number of the original States of the Union；the field to be divided into three bars of equal width，the upper one blue，the center one white，and the lower one extending the whole length of the flag．
Representative Timothy Alan Ford，18th District and Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives，introduced House Bill 524to provide for a statewide special election to choose a design for the Mississippi State Flag．This statewide election shall be held on Tuesday，April 17，2001．The voters will be asked to vote for the 1894State Flag design（current design）or a“proposed new state flag design”．This new design replaces the canton［州，行政区（尤指瑞士的州，法国的区）］of the 1894design（red ground with blue saltire）with a blue canton（行政区）feauring 20stars in a concentric（同中心的）arrangement．This bill has been approved by the legislature and signed by the Governor of Mississippi．
Voters in Mississippi on Tuesday，April 17，2001，Mississippians voted overwhelmingly（压倒性地，不可抵抗地）chose to continue flying a 107－year old state banner that prominently displays the Confederate battle cross，bucking a trend toward stripping the racially divisive emblem from public venues in the South．
In a state where the legacy of segregation still haunts（神鬼出没）like a restless ghost，Tuesday’s vote was seen by many as an opportunity to reconcile Mississippi’s racist past and allow the state to take Its place among others representing a New South．
But despite an expensive campaign to convince residents that the old state flag could thwart（阻碍）social and economic progress in Mississippi，voters turned out in larger than expected numbers against a proposal（提议，建议）to replace the 1894flag，with its Confederate emblem of 13white stars on a blue X．The rejected design would have replaced the cross with a circle of 20white stars，denoting Mississippi’s role as the 20th state．
State Song州歌
Go，Mississippi
Words and Music by Houston Davis
VERSE
States may sing their songs of praise
With waving flags and hip－hoo－rays，
Let cymbals（铙；钗；钹）crash（碰撞，坠落）
and let bells ring
Cause here’s one song I’m proud to sing．
CHORUSES
Go，Mississippi，keep rolling along，
Go，Mississippi，you cannot go wrong，
Go，Mississippi，we’re singing your song，
M－I－S－S－I－S－S－I－P－P－I
Go，Mississippi，you’re on the right track，
Go，Mississippi，and this is a fact，
Go，Mississippi，you’ll never look back，
M－I－S－S－I－S－S－I－P－P－I
Go，Mississippi，straight down the line，
Go，Mississippi，ev’rything’s fine，
Go，MIssissippi，it’s your state and mine，
M－I－S－S－I－S－S－I－P－P－I
Go，Mississippi，continue to roll，
Go，Mississippi，the top is the goal，
Go，Mississippi，you’ll have and you’ll hold，
M－I－S－S－I－S－S－I－P－P－I
Go，Mississippi，get up and go，
Go，Mississippi，let the world know，
That our Mississippi is leading the show，
M－I－S－S－I－S－S－I－P－P－I
Facts and Trivia相关资料
1．In 1963the University of Mississippi Medical Center accomplished the world’s first human lung transplant and，on January 23，1964，Dr．James D．Hardy performed the world’s first heart transplant（移植）surgery．
2．Borden’s Condensed Milk was first canned in Liberty．
3．In 1902while on a hunting expedition in Sharkey County，President Theodore（Teddy）Roosevelt refused to shoot a captured bear．This act resulted in the creation of the world－famous teddy bear．
4．The world’s largest shrimp（小虾）is on display at the Old Spanish Fort Museum in Pascagoula．
5．The first bottle of Dr．Tichener’s Antiseptic was produced in Liberty．
6．The world’s largest cactus（［植］仙人掌）plantation is in Edwards．
7．Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo，on January 8，1935．
8．H．T．Merrill from Luka performed the world’s first round trip trans－oceanic flight in 1928．
9．In 1884the concept of selling shoes in boxes in pairs（right foot and left foot）occurred in Vicksburg at Phil Gilbert’s Shoe Parlor on Washington Street．
10．The first female rural mail carrier in the United States was Mrs．Mamie Thomas．She delivered mail by buggy（〈美〉童车，〈俚〉尤指旧汽车，双轮单座的轻马车）to the area southeast of Vicksburg in 1914．
11．Historic Jefferson College，circa 1802，was the first preparatory school established in the Mississippi Territory．Located in Washington the educational institution is also the site where tradition holds Aaron Burr was arraigned for treason in 1807，beneath what became known as Burr Oaks．
12．William Grant Still of Woodville composed the Afro－American Symphony．
13．Burnita Shelton Mathews of Hazelhurst was the first woman federal judge in the United States and served in Washington，the District of Columbia．
14．Dr．Emmette F．Izard of Hazelhurst developed the first fibers of rayon．They became known as the first real synthetics（［用作复］人工合成（绝缘）材料）．
15．The first nuclear submarine built in the south was produced in Mississippi．
16．In 1871Liberty became the first town in the United States to erect a Confederate monument．
17．Mississippi was the first state in the nation to have a planned system of junior colleges．
18．Leontyne Price of Laurel performed with the New York Metropolitan Opera．
19．Mississippi is the birthplace of the Order of the Eastern Star．
20．The rarest of North American cranes lives in Mississippi in the grassy savannas（热带（或亚热带）稀树大草原）of Jackson County．The Mississippi Sandhill Crane stands about 44inches tall and has an eight－foot wingspan（［空］翼展）．
21．Guy Bush of Tupelo was one of the most valuable players with the Chicago Cubs．He was on the 1929World Series team and Babe Ruth hit his last home run off a ball pitched by Bush．
22．S．B．Sam Vick of Oakland played for the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox．He was the only man ever to pinch hit for the baseball great Babe Ruth．
