State flag of georgia history. 13 1956 incorporating a confederate battle emblem into the design as a response to the supreme court rulings on desegregating schools. The georgia state flag was changed feb. Roy barnes right and cecil alexander left the designer of the new georgia state flag pose with the banner in the governors office at the capitol wednesday jan.
State flags were designed and adopted between 1893 and world war i. From 1956 to 2001 the georgia state flag prominently incorporated the confederate battle flag. In the coat of arms the arch symbolizes the states constitution while the pillars represent the three branches of government.
It has three stripes red white and red and a blue canton featuring a ring of 13 stars surrounding the state coat of arms. That flag was introduced by john sammons bell an outspoken supporter of segregation and. The current flag of the state of georgia was adopted on may 8 2003.
After the states secession from the union on january 19 1861 there were several newspaper reports of secession flags consisting of a single star on a solid background. 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. State flags as contemporarily understood date from the turn of the 20th century when states wanted to have distinctive symbols at the 1893 worlds columbian exposition in chicago illinoismost us.
For example in a little more than two years time between january 2001 and may 2003 georgia changed its state flag three times. Understandably the history of georgias state flag is extensive. The current official state flag was adopted in 2003.
By the late 1990s the design had become widely known as the georgian historical national flag as vexillologists had pointed out the red on white jerusalem cross shown as the flag of tbilisi in a 14th century map by domenico and francesco pizzigano. The state of georgia tops the entire nation of the united states for the number of previous state flags. The eve of the civil war 1861 65 georgia did not have an official state flag.