Minnesota’s flag has long been criticized for its unmemorable design and depiction of Native Americans being displaced by white settlers.

Lawmakers have been pushing for years to transform the design to conform with better design principles and remove potentially offensive imagery, but proposals have failed to gain much traction in the Legislature.

This year, however, Democrats now in complete control of state government are moving forward with a plan to create a commission tasked with redesigning the flag and state seal by 2024.

“There is a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of leaders think it’s time to get it done,” said Lee Herold, a Rochester flag shop owner and the co-designer of the 1989 “North Star” flag, one of the more recognizable proposed replacements for Minnesota’s state flag.

One anecdote Herold has shared in the past to illustrate what flag design enthusiasts say makes Minnesota’s flag so weak: He’s seen it flown upside down above the state Capitol — something that would be quickly noticed if it were the U.S. flag.

The flag conversation

Increasingly, inclusion has become a bigger part of the flag conversation. Senate flag bill sponsor Sen. Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton, told the Committee on State and Local Government and Veterans earlier this month that settler imagery on the seal depicts a sad chapter of the state’s past.

“It’s a very painful part of Minnesota’s history: the Indians and their loss of land,” she said. “That loss is what is pictured on our state seal, and that is what we are asking to be redone.”

Minnesota’s current flag, adopted in 1893, is built around the state’s seal. Surrounding the seal are 19 stars representing Minnesota as the 19th state to join the Union after the 13 original American Colonies, and three dates: 1819 for the founding of Fort Snelling, 1858 for statehood and 1893 for the flag’s adoption.

The flag has been tweaked multiple times since, with the current flag adopted in 1957. Vexillologists point to several design problems with the flag, including its busy design that makes it difficult to recognize from a distance. Twenty other states have a similar “state seal on a bedsheet” design, meaning Minnesota’s doesn’t stand out.

The current state seal of Minnesota depicts a white farmer tilling the soil, with a gun leaning against a nearby stump as a Native American riding a horse nearby looks in his direction. The original seal showed the Native rider headed west into the sunset, but state lawmakers in 1983 changed the direction to the south.

Original intent

While some defenders of the seal say it shows Natives and settlers coexisting, Kunesh at a February committee hearing said the seal’s original intent is explained in a poem by Mary Eastman, the wife of Seth Eastman, the seal’s designer:

“Give way, give way, young warrior,

Thou and thy steed give way;

Rest not, though lingers on the hills

The red sun’s parting ray.

The rock bluff and prairie land

The white man claims them now,

The symbols of his course are here,

The rifle, axe, and plough.”

Bill would create commission

Under the flag design bill, Minnesota would create a State Emblems Redesign Commission that would explore options and produce a report on a new flag and seal design no later than Jan. 1, 2024. The commission must take public input on the new flag and can seek the service of experts to help design the flag. The state would have to adopt the new flag by May 2024.

Proposed designs “must accurately and respectfully reflect Minnesota’s shared history, resources, and diverse cultural communities.” Any emblem representing a single community or person may not be included in the design.

The commission would be composed of three members appointed by the governor, as well as representatives from the Black, Latino, Asian-Pacific, Dakota and Ojibwe communities. Explore Minnesota Tourism, the Minnesota Historical Society and the Minnesota Secretary of State also would have spots on the commission.

One flag that could inspire the design of the new Minnesota flag is the North Star flag designed by Herold and Rev. William Becker more than 30 years ago.

The design has a gold star in the top left corner that symbolizes the state’s French motto “L’étoile du Nord” — the star of the north. The green and white are colors of forests, farmland and winter. The blue is meant to evoke the sky-tinted waters that are Minnesota’s namesake derived from the Dakota language.

Asked if he hoped to be involved with the commission process, Herold said he would want to contribute guidance on good flag design.

“If I had to choose a role, it would be to educate the commission members on what good looks like,” he said.

The Senate state and local government committee advanced the flag proposal to the rules committee earlier this month.

A House companion bill is sponsored by Rep. Mike Freiberg, DFL-Golden Valley, and Rep. Peter Fischer, DFL-Maplewood, who have been working on the issue for several years.