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Every June 14 we celebrate Flag Day, a tribute to Old Glory, the patriotic symbol of the freedom we enjoy in the United States. Homes and businesses proudly fly the stars and stripes high on flag poles, baseball stadiums drape red, white and blue bunting around the stands, and veterans stop and salute the flag of the country they proudly served.
The Ever-Evolving Flag
Today the flag consists of 13 alternating red and white stripes symbolizing the original 13 colonies and 50 white stars on a blue field, one star for each state. But it wasn’t always that way. In fact, the first flag that flew over the Continental Army didn’t have stars at all. Called the Grand Union, it consisted of 13 alternating red and white stripes – but with a tiny British Union Jack in the corner (called the canton) where the stars would later reside. It wasn’t until April 4, 1818, that the blue field with white stars that we know today was added by an act of Congress signed into law by President James Monroe.
Throughout the country’s history, the arrangement and number of stars have changed as states were added to the union. Each time, it was necessary for Congress to pass new regulations, as the flag is an official symbol of the United States and therefore legally protected by federal law from alteration.
Celebrating the Flag
While we take for granted that every July 4 we celebrate Independence Day – the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence – Flag Day didn’t start until over a hundred years later in 1885, and it wasn’t on a national scale. In fact, it started quite small when a school teacher from Waubeka, Wisconsin, named Bernard J. Cigrand suggested the students in his school district should celebrate “Flag Birthday” on June 14 to commemorate the 108th anniversary of the official adoption of the Star and Stripes (June 14, 1777) as the national flag. His students and the local community loved it, and Cigrand was so dedicated to the idea that he wrote articles for newspapers across the country, calling for an annual observance.
Cigrand wasn’t the only one who favored a national flag day celebration. Pittsburgh resident William T. Kerr founded the American Flag Day Association of Western Pennsylvania in 1888 and a year later became the national chairman of the American Flag Day Association.
George Bolch, a kindergarten teacher in New York City, also began celebrating the occasion with his students, and in 1889 Flag Day was adopted by the State Board of Education of New York.
Soon other states began celebrating their versions of Flag Day, and on May 30, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson established by proclamation that June 14 would be a national celebration. However, that didn’t make it a national holiday. Even though most of the country acknowledged that June 14 would be Flag Day, it wasn’t official until President Harry Truman signed an Act of Congress on August 3, 1949, making June 14 officially National Flag Day.
Flag Day is just one day of what later became National Flag Week, a time when Americans are urged to fly the flag for seven straight days. Please join us today and this week as we celebrate National Flag Week and National Flag Day.