New Albany senator falsely claims Black man designed state flag

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Kevin M. Kruse Retweeted

I've seen a lot of things in my 10+years of researching and writing about the Black Confederate myth, but this takes things to a whole new level of stupidity. A Republican state senator believes that a Black Confederate designed the Mississippi state flag.

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New Albany senator falsely claims Black man designed state flag

BY CALEB BEDILLION Daily Journal 15 hrs ago Comments

TUPELO • State Sen. Kathy Chism, R-New Albany, believes the Legislature should not change the state flag and has without any evidence claimed that a Black veteran of the Confederacy designed the flag.

Historical accounts widely attribute the design of Mississippi’s flag, which was adopted in 1894, to Edward Scudder. Scudder was a white state senator and attorney.

But in a Sunday Facebook post, Chism, a freshman lawmaker, made a different historical claim without referring to any sources.



Kathy Chism Facebook post

BY CALEB BEDILLION Daily Journal

“The MS flag was designed by an African American Confederate Soldier,” Chism wrote. “I can only imagine how proud he was that his art, his flag design was chosen to represent our State and now we want to strip him of his pride, his hard work. I’m sure he put a lot of thought into this design.”

Within the comments to her post, multiple people corrected Chism’s claim. As of Monday evening, Chism’s original post remains.

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Twitter: @CalebBedillion

Caleb Bedillion Retweeted

NEW: The Mississippi Baptist Convention Board is broadcasting live on their Facebook page, "urging" state legislators to change the flag.
"We're not here from a political agenda standpoint...it is time for a change."
https://facebook.com/mississippibaptists

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