The flag of Tennessee is the official flag of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. The flag displays an

emblem An emblem is an abstract art, abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a monarch or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and ''symbol'' ...

on a

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

of red, with a strip of blue bordered by white on the

fly Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...

. The emblem in the middle consists of three white

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

s on a blue circle also with a white border. The central emblem portion of the flag has been adopted as the state's unofficial

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name that it represents, as in ...

, and appears in the logos of some Tennessee-based companies and sports teams. Examples include the

First Horizon Bank First Horizon Corporation, formerly First Tennessee Bank, is a financial services company, founded in 1864, and based in Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, Tennessee. Through its banking subsidiary First Horizon Bank, it provides financial services thr ...

and the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

. In 2001, the

North American Vexillological Association The North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) is a membership organization devoted to vexillology, the study of flags. It was founded in 1967 by American vexillologist Whitney Smith, and others. Its membership of 1,100+ comprises flag s ...

surveyed its members on the designs of the 72 U.S. state, territorial, and Canadian provincial flags and ranked the

flag 14th.

History

In 1897, Tennessee adopted a red, white, and blue

tricolor A triband is a vexillological style which consists of three stripes arranged to form a flag. These stripes may be two or three colours, and may be charged with an emblem in the middle stripe. Not all tribands are tricolour flags, which requires t ...

. The three bars were deliberately slanted in an effort to represent the geographically distinct regions of Tennessee. The flag included the number "16", Tennessee having been admitted as the 16th state of the Union, and the words "The Volunteer State", the state's official nickname. The current flag was designed by Colonel Le Roy Reeves, a Johnson City attorney who was then serving in the

Tennessee National Guard The Tennessee Military Department is a department within the Executive Branch of Tennessee State Government with four major components. The Tennessee Army National Guard and the Tennessee Air National Guard constitute the National Guard in Tenn ...

. ''(Accessed November 10, 2021.)'' The

Tennessee General Assembly The Tennessee General Assembly (TNGA) is the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is a part-time bicameral legislature consisting of a Tennessee Senate, Senate and a Tennessee House of Representa ...

officially adopted the flag on April 17, 1905.

Description

Symbolism

The stars represent the three geographically and legally distinct

Grand Divisions of Tennessee The Grand Divisions are three geographic regions in the U.S. state of Tennessee, each constituting roughly one-third of the state's land area, that are geographically, culturally, legally, and economically distinct. The Grand Divisions are lega ...

(i.e.

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

Middle Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek ...

, and

West Tennessee West Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee that roughly comprises the western quarter of the state. The region includes 21 counties between the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers, delineated by state law. Its geography consists ...

). The blue circle around the stars represents the unity of those grand divisions. The blue bar at the edge of the flag was just a design consideration. When asked about the blue bar, Reeves stated "The final blue bar relieves the sameness of the crimson field and prevents the flag from showing too much crimson when hanging limp." In October 1917, ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

'' erroneously reported the stars represented the state as the third to enter the Union after the original thirteen.

Star arrangement

State law dictates exactly how the central emblem is to be displayed on the flag. In 1976, the

U.S. Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

issued a sheet of 13 cent stamps illustrating U.S. state flags. Tennessee's was illustrated upside down.

Government flags

Alongside the state flag, there are other flags used by the government of Tennessee. The

flag A flag is a piece of textile, fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and fla ...

for the

governor of Tennessee The governor of Tennessee is the head of government of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the commander-in-chief of the U.S. state, state's Tennessee Military Department, military forces. The governor is the only official in the Government of Tenne ...

has been in use since 1939. It is a scarlet flag, with four stars, one in each corner, and the state military crest, a tree with three white stars, in the center. The

has its own flag as well that was adopted in 1978.

Other flags

Gallery

File:Tennessee Bicentennial 13c 1976 issue.jpg, The flag of Tennessee as depicted in the 1976 bicentennial postage stamp series. File:Hot Air Balloon Jubilee Festival, Decatur, Alabama.png, A state flag themed hot air balloon at Jubilee Festival, Decatur, Alabama, May 2010. File:Tennessee Flag Tornado 1998.jpg, The Tennessee state flag which flew over the Capitol during the

Tornado outbreak of April 15–16, 1998 The tornado outbreak of April 15–16, 1998, also known as the 1998 Nashville tornado outbreak, was a two-day tornado outbreak that affected portions of the Midwestern United States, Mississippi and Tennessee Valleys on April 15 and April 16 ...

. The middle emblem was ripped out during the storm. This flag is on display at the Tennessee State Capitol.

References

External links

Tennessee Blue Book 2013-2014

LeRoy Reeves in the collection of the Archives of Appalachia in Johnson City, Tennessee
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flag Of Tennessee

Flags of Tennessee

Flags with blue, red and white Flags with stars