Flag of Minnesota

The flag of Minnesota is the state flag of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Its design features a modified version of the seal of Minnesota emblazoned on a blue field. The flag's first version was adopted in 1893, in advance of the state's mounting an exhibition at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. It was significantly revised in 1957 and received a minor update in 1983.

The flag has come under growing criticism. Longstanding frustration with its illegibility has been joined by concerns that the image depicted in the seal offers a negationist view of Minnesota's settlement by Europeans that conceals the violence committed against Indigenous peoples. In 2023, the Minnesota Legislature created a commission to redesign the flag and seal of Minnesota. On December 19, 2023, the commission selected a design that will replace the current flag effective May 11, 2024, unless the legislature chooses to take further action.

Design and use

Section 1.141 of the state statutes prescribes the design and use of Minnesota's flag.

The flag is rectangular and features a design emblazoned in the center of a field of medium blue. According to statute, the flag is bordered with gold and finished with gold fringe, but this is rarely used.

The central design features three concentric circular fields. The innermost field is filled with a simplified version of the state seal. Around the seal is a ring of blue ornamented with a wreath of pink-and-white lady's-slipper and a red ribbon upon which are written the years 1819 and 1893. At the top of the blue ring the year 1858 is set in gold. Around the blue ring is a white ring upon which 19 stars form five radially arrayed groups. Each group contains four stars except for the top-center group, which has two stars of standard size and one larger than the rest. Between the bottom two groups, the state's name is set in red. Both the blue ring and the white ring are bordered with gold.

Design and symbolism of the seal

A Native American rides on horseback in the background, symbolizing Minnesota's Native American heritage, while a pioneer uses a plow in the foreground. There is a sunset on the western horizon. The straight horizon line reflects the plains covering much of Minnesota. The Native American is riding southward. The native's horse and spear and the pioneer's ax, rifle, and plow represent tools of daily life. The only interaction between the figures is one observing the other. The tools used by the Native American and the farmer represent the tools used for labor and hunting, while the stump symbolizes the taming of the land and the importance of the lumber industry to Minnesota in 1858. The Mississippi River and St. Anthony Falls are depicted in the revised seal to note the importance of these resources in transportation, industry, and the settling of the state. The furrowing of the ground by the plow represents the submission of the land to the pioneer. The plow also symbolizes agriculture's importance to Minnesota and its future. The waterfalls are not on the original state seal. Beyond the falls on the seal are three pine trees representing the state tree (the Norway pine) and the three pine regions of the state: the St. Croix, Mississippi, and Lake Superior.

Symbolism of other elements

Each of the three years cited was notable in Minnesota history. Fort Snelling was founded in 1819, Minnesota gained statehood in 1858, and its first flag was adopted in 1893.

The pink-and-white lady's slipper is the state flower.

The 19 stars symbolize the fact that Minnesota was the 19th state to enter the Union after the original 13. The larger star at the top symbolizes the North Star.

Display and use

The flag is to be flown over the Minnesota State Capitol from sunrise to sunset.

When the flag is folded for storage, it should be folded in the same way as the national flag. When folding the flag for presentation or display, it must be folded lengthwise four times, then each side must be folded down so that the banner containing L'Étoile du Nord is displayed on a triangle. The ends below the triangle must be folded in a complex way to form a triangle that is then tucked into the upper triangle so that the state motto is prominently displayed on the front. Instructions for folding in this manner, developed by members of the Minnesota National Guard, are reported to be detailed to the point of confusion by some.

Desecration

Mutilating, defiling, or casting contempt upon the flag, attaching any design to the flag, or using the flag for advertising are misdemeanor offenses under State Statute 609.40, excepting flags on written or printed documents. However, following the 1990 Supreme Court ruling United States v. Eichman, enforcement of this law has been deemed unconstitutional.

History

1893 flag

In 1891, the Minnesota legislature voted to sponsor an exhibition at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and in response then governor William Rush Merriam appointed a board to supervise the preparations. The board comprised only men, but preparations specific to the showcasing of "women's work" were passed off to an all-women group of volunteers known as the Women's Auxiliary Board. Minnesota had no official flag at that time, and the Auxiliary Board formed a six-person committee to design a flag. The committee held a contest to design the flag, and 200 entries were submitted. In February 1893, Amelia Hyde Center was announced the winner and received $15 for her winning design. The Board then successfully petitioned the legislature to officially adopt the design as the state flag.

Center's design was white on one side and bright blue on the other. In the center of the white obverse was the state seal wreathed in white moccasin flowers overlaying a ring of blue. A red ribbon across the seal bore a motto, L'Étoile du Nord (French for "The Star of the North"). The years 1819 (establishment of Fort Snelling), 1858 (statehood), and 1893 (adoption of the flag) appeared in gold around the seal. "Minnesota" was written in gold under the seal, and 19 gold stars, representing the fact that Minnesota was the 19th state to be admitted after the original 13 states, were arranged in clusters to form the five points of a star. Historians have noted the design was likely influenced by various flags used by Minnesota's infantry regiments during the Civil War, many of which consisted of a blue field emblazoned with either an American eagle or the state seal with a scroll.

The first flag was made of silk and was embroidered by Pauline and Thomane Fjelde, who won a gold medal for their creation. The flag was adopted on April 4, 1893.

While the reverse of the official design was a solid blue field, some examples of the flag, particularly those mass produced in the twentieth century, featured the seal design on that side as well.

1957 flag

The flag was redesigned in 1957 in advance of the 1958 state centennial. Most significantly, the field of both the obverse (formerly white) and the reverse (formerly bright blue) were made royal blue; the unification allowed flags to be produced from a single piece of cloth, reducing manufacturing costs and making the flag more durable in high winds. Separately, the white lady's-slippers depicted in the original were replaced with the pink-and-white lady's-slipper native to Minnesota.

1983 revision

In 1983 the seal was redrawn, and the color field was lightened from a royal blue to a medium blue.

Criticism and calls for redesign

The Minnesota flag has been widely criticized for decades. Vexillologists have called its design unmemorable, indistinguishable from afar, and similar to many other state flags. In 2001, it was chosen as one of the ten worst flag designs in an online poll by the North American Vexillological Association, receiving a score of 3.13 out of 10. The same year, the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Star Tribune held an unofficial contest to design a new state flag.

The symbolism of the flag's seal has been criticized for offering a racist, negationist view of Minnesota's settlement by Europeans. Critics have said the seal, depicting a Native American man riding away from land being cultivated by a white man, represents the displacement of the indigenous people of Minnesota. Tribal nations, including the Upper Sioux Community, do not display the flag.

On numerous occasions over several decades, bills have been introduced in the Minnesota Legislature to establish a legislative task force to study changes to the flag. In 1968, the Minnesota Board of Human Rights urged the state to change the seal.

North Star Flag

The North Star Flag design was created in 1989 by Lee Herold and Reverend William Becker. The flag has the colors of green, representing forests, white, representing winter, and blue, representing water. A yellow star in the top left represents the North Star and the state's motto, L'Étoile du Nord. Herold presented the proposal to state legislators in 1989, supported by Republican representative Gil Gutknecht. Herold opposed the official state flag since its creation when he was in high school. In 1995, he left his career as an accountant and opened a flag store, Herold Flags, in Rochester, Minnesota.

2023 redesign commission

On March 22, 2022, two Democratic members of the Minnesota House of Representatives, Mike Freiberg and Peter Fischer, introduced a bill to redesign the state's flag and seal. Fischer began supporting a flag redesign in 2017 after a group of high school students raised the issue to him. The law outlines specific guidelines for the redesign, stipulating that the new designs "must accurately and respectfully reflect Minnesota's shared history, resources, and diverse cultural communities" and that symbols representing only a single community or person are prohibited. It was proposed as part of a state budget bill and was opposed by Republican representatives, who viewed it as a low priority.

In May 2023, as a part of the annual state budget, the Minnesota Legislature established the State Emblems Redesign Commission, tasked with proposing new designs for Minnesota's flag and seal. The legislation dictates that, barring any contrary legislation, the chosen flag design will be adopted as the state flag on May 11, 2024. The committee has 13 members, including representatives of the Indian Affairs Council, the Council for Minnesotans of African Heritage, the Minnesota Council on Latino Affairs, and the Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans, along with three members of the general public appointed by Governor Tim Walz. The committee held its first meeting on September 5.

In October, the committee received public input to suggest flag designs. A total of 2,123 flag and 398 seal submissions were received. Common themes included the state bird (the loon), lakes and rivers, and the North Star. More diverse entries included a photograph of a dog, a photograph of a wooden floor, national flags and imitations of them such as those of the Soviet Union, psychedelic monkey drawings, and a design depicting a loon shooting lasers from its eyes similar to the Laser Kiwi flag proposed during the 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums.

On November 21, 2023, the commission met in the Minnesota Senate Building to review the selections. Despite having planned to select five flag designs, the group chose six finalists. All the finalists featured a star and blue and white; none featured the loon, which the committee believed represented only part of Minnesota. Herold attended the hearing, but his North Star Flag design was not a finalist. On December 13, the number of flags was narrowed to three, F2100, F944, and F1953.

On December 15, the committee decided that the final flag would be a variant of F1953, eliminating F2100 and F944. The commission finalized the design on December 19 by removing the stripes and altering the star's shape, making the final design an all light-blue banner with a simplified shape of Minnesota on the hoist in dark blue and a simplified eight-pointed star in the center of the shape.

• Finalists selected by the commission

2024 flag

Ted Kaye of the North American Vexillological Association called the new design "outstanding" and said that it has a place in the top 10 flags of the U.S. A criticism of the design is its alleged similarity to flags from Somalia; this criticism was rebuffed by the commission overseeing the flag redesign. Another criticism of the final design is that it is "plain". Several rural counties, including Crow Wing, Houston, McLeod, Nobles, Becker, Mower, and Brown, passed resolutions opposing the flag in general, or the process by which the new flag design was chosen. In early March 2024, Republican state legislators announced plans to introduce a series of bills that would put the flag design to a public vote.

Unless the legislature decides to take further action, the new flag is set to begin flying on May 11, 2024.

See also

• List of Minnesota state symbols
• Great Seal of the State of Minnesota

References

External links

• The Minnesota Flag Statute
• The Origin of the Minnesota State Flag
• North Star Flag Website
• The New Official Flag and Great Seal