Georgia barnes flag. Roy barnes right speaks to radio host bill nigut as they prepare for a discussion in 2015 about politics and the confederate flag. As of 2020 he is the most recent democrat to hold the office of governor of georgia. Roy eugene barnes born march 11 1948 is an american attorney and politician who served as the 80th governor of the us.
State of georgia from 1999 to 2003. Despite a political storm georgia got rid of the backward looking symbol in 2001 its former governor says. The georgia legislature approved a new flag in 2001 during the administration of gov.
The flag bears three stripes consisting of red white red featuring a blue canton containing a ring of 13 white stars encompassing the states coat of arms in gold. Georgia shrank the battle flag emblem from its dominant position on its state flag in 2001 in a move led by the georgia house black caucus and supported by democratic then governor roy barnes. Barnes had angered a great many whites by unilaterally removing the confederate battle flag from the state flag and then ramming the change through the state legislature.
The vote followed a. The current flag of the state of georgia was adopted on may 8 2003. During january 2001 governor barnes began holding meetings with a small group of legislative leaders and some african american members who had long sought to change georgias flag.
The 2001 compromise flag. In the coat of arms the arch symbolizes the states constitution while the pillars represent the three branches of government. Barnes lost his bid for reelection in part because of anger over the flag change and his successor gov.
A plan was devised whereby house bill 16 a bill prescribing a return to the pre 1956 flag and the redesignation of the 1956 flag as the georgia memorial flag. A democratic member of the georgia senate from 1974 to 1990 barnes ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1990 losing to lieutenant governor zell miller. In georgia where democratic governor roy barnes suffered an unexpected defeat to republican challenger sonny perdue whites may have felt especially motivated.