Flag Day
My daughter’s school recently celebrated Flag Day on June 14th. Every year they have a big production with the mayor, songs and stories. How did Flag Day get started?
On June 14, 1777, the second Continental Congress adopted the use of a flag, designed by Betsey Ross, for the newly formed United State of America. But it wasn’t until 1885 that the first flag day was celebrated. A schoolteacher in Wisconsin (BJ Cigrand) arranged for the students to celebrate the Flag’s Birthday. In following years, he encouraged the practice and wanted June 14th to be observed as Flag Day.
Later other schools and communities adopted Flag Day. In 1894 the Governor of New York directed that the Flag should be flown over government buildings on June 14th. The same year, the American Flag Day Association was started in Chicago. More than 300,000 children participated in the program.
The official establishment of Flag Day happened on May 30th, 1930 by President Woodrow Wilson. An Act of Congress in 1949 made June 14th a National Flag Day.
My daughters school also celebrated flag day and it was a great ceremony. I went home and did some reading up on the flag on USFlag.org. Lots of great info that I think many people overlook today. But one thing I found interesting was the part about Betsy Ross. Most historians do not believe that she designed the flag at all. The notion that she did at all came about 100 years later when it was her grandson that made the statement that she in fact designed it. But there is no written conformation of this at all. You can read all about it on that site. I also posted a bit about it on my blog - feel free to comment.
June 16th, 2007 at 7:20 pm