A lighthouse, whale or turkey could be at the center of Massachusetts’ new state flag — months after originally being cut as options.
The Massachusetts Seal, Flag, and Motto Advisory Commission, which was established by the state Legislature in 2024, previously narrowed down more than 1,000 ideas to just three for each category.
The final three flag designs featured the state flower, the mayflower, six feathers in a circle on a crimson color background and a blue hill with waves next to it.
But there continued to be concern that these weren’t the right final three during a hearing on Aug. 28.
Two days after the committee’s previous December deadline to produce its recommendations, the committee met to talk about extending the process further.
“This process is not about rushing toward an outcome. It is about ensuring that before any decisions are considered, we’ve done the work of understanding,” Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler, co-chair of the Massachusetts Seal, Flag, and Motto Commission, said at a December meeting. “Understanding where the symbols come from, how their meanings have shifted over time, and how different communities experience them today. That kind of work takes time, and it takes care. It also takes leadership.”
Tutwiler then announced the committee is seeking additional time “so we can complete this work with the level of education, engagement and care that it deserves.”
This includes rescoring the original second round submissions using a recalibrated rubric “that gives equal weight to both representation and design features.” All scoring is expected to be completed by 5 p.m. on Jan. 9.
Unfortunately — or fortunately — this means the shark in a pilgrim hat and Dunkin’ coffee cups are still excluded.
Currently, the flag has English militia leader Myles Standish gripping a saber over the head of an indigenous person as if he’s poised to strike.
Standish attacked multiple Native American settlements in the 1600s. Latin motto “Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem” outlines the seal. The motto roughly translates to: “By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty.”
Indigenous people spent years protesting the flag.
In July 2021, John Peters, of Native descent and executive director of Massachusetts Indian Affairs, told the commission that the current symbol on the flag is truthful to “what happened to us Native people in the commonwealth.” He hopes the commission can change the symbol to something that isn’t so “egregious to Native Americans,” something that can represent Massachusetts’ diverse cultures.
A previous group began meeting to officially make changes in 2021. But by 2023, the group was not able to finish redesigning the flag.
A final report was submitted November 2023 with information for a new commission to consider.
“For example, the mayflower connects back to the colonial era and the Pilgrims, whose actions included the forced displacement of Indigenous people. The cranberry, one Commission member noted, conjures mixed feelings among some Indigenous residents due to its relationship to colonialism,” the report states.
Several Indigenous members also expressed support for “keeping an Indigenous figure in the heraldic charge as a way to prevent additional erasure of their communities from the official history and iconography of the commonwealth,” the report states.
It also suggested that Massachusetts should dedicate more resources to educating the public about the Indigenous history and cultures of Massachusetts, the history and usages of the current seal and motto, the harm inflicted by the current seal and motto and the efforts to change the seal and motto.
