Some 60 prominent Mississippians took out a full-page ad in the state's most widely read newspaper on Sunday to demand that the Confederate battle emblem be removed from the Magnolia State's flag, USA Today reported.

Author John Grisham, actor Morgan Freeman, legendary quarterback Archie Manning, former Netscape chief executive Jim Barksdale and music legend Jimmy Buffett all signed the letter, which argued that it was "time for Mississippi to fly a flag for all its people."

"It is simply not fair, or honorable, to ask black Mississippians to attend schools, compete in athletic events, work in the public sector, serve in the National Guard, and go about their normal lives with a state flag that glorifies a war fought to keep their ancestors enslaved," the group insisted.

Their demand echoes that of the Republican speaker of Mississippi's House of Representatives, Philip Gunn, who had called for the Confederate battle emblem to be removed from the state flag in the wake of the June church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. Gunn noted that the design was "offensive," becoming the first "top-tier Republican" in Mississippi to urge such a change, according to the Associated Press.

But 64 percent of the state's residents voted in a 2001 ballot measure to retain the current flag, recalled the Clarion-Ledger, the Jackson, Mississippi paper in which Sunday's ad appeared. And Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, who voted with the majority in the referendum, has said he does not expect the legislature to "supersede the will of the people on this issue."

Grisham told Time magazine that he has advocated for changing his home state's flag since 2001, and that he and fellow author Greg Iles jointly wrote Sunday's ad before signing up friends, primarily writers, journalists, publishers and poets, in support of their effort.

"The flag will be changed, eventually," insisted the 60-year-old creator of bestselling novels such as "The Firm" and "The Pelican Brief."

"But it's Mississippi, and change is painfully slow. However, I believe it will happen sooner rather than later," Grisham added.