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This month learn about Early Ky!
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First Edition, June 2002.
National flags are not merely symbols of
a country. Their colors and designs convey past history and
future goals. Flags have powerful connotations. They speak to the
people and politicians. People of one country will burn the flag
of another with whose politics they do not agree. To show their
anger, students display their own nation's flags with the design
altered or cut out completely. Dictators fly flags; dissidents
rip them down. In every country of the world, the treatment of a
flag displays an opinion or statement. Americans take the treatment of their flag seriously and in
the 20th century this has become an important issue. Included in
the code of ethics are such rules as the national flag cannot be
used for advertising. It cannot cover a monument or any ceilings.
It must not be folded while being displayed. No one should write
on an American flag. Ships can lower their flags slightly in
greeting each other, but otherwise should not be dipped for any
other object or person. In the late 1960s, American students wore small flags sewn to
the back of their jeans, symbolically insulting the American
government and protesting its involvement in the Vietnam War.
They burned the American flag in front of the Capitol Building in
Washington as a statement of protest. In the early 1990s,
senators suggested an amendment to the Constitution that would
make this treatment of the flag illegal. The proposition was
opposed because many others felt that this change would be a
violation of Americans' constitutional rights to express their
opinions freely. For all the controversy it is interesting to point out that
the United States did not even have a standardized flag until
1912! Called the "Stars and Stripes," or "Old
Glory," the flag is one of the most complicated in the
world. No other flag needs 64 pieces of fabric to make. The
current flag has 13 red and white alternating stripes
(representing the original 13 states) and 50 stars (each star
represents one of the states of the Union) on a blue background. The American flag has also changed designs more than any other
flag in the world. The first flag, called the Grand Union, was
first flown at the headquarters of the Continent Army on January
1, 1776. Betsy Ross, a' seamstress, is said to have contributed
to this design. She had an upholstery business which made flags
for navy ships in Pennsylvania. A legend still persists that she
showed George Washington how to make a five-pointed star and
suggested thirteen stars in a circle for the first flag. Her
descendants claimed that she offered the design. Actually, she
and George Washington never met! George Washington did design the
Grand Union but an often-quoted remark attributed to him might
not be true: In August 1949, President Harry S. Truman proclaimed June 14*
as Flag Day. Since then the President proclaims the
commemoration yearly, and encourages all Americans in the country
to display the Stars and Stripes outside their homes and
businesses. Individual states determine how they will observe the
day. In Pennsylvania and American Samoa it is a public holiday.
Usually the flag is flown from all public buildings,
speeches are made in public places and ceremonies take place in
towns or cities Elementary school children across the nation make The Pledge
of Allegiance in front of the flag every weekday morning: During the War of 1812 between the British and Americans,
lawyer Francis Scott Key was escorting a prisoner to freedom by
ship when he saw an American flag surviving a battle in Baltimore
Harbor. The flag inspired him to write the poem which provides
the words for the national anthem. The actual flag now hangs in
the Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.. Today the
"Star-Spangled Banner" is sung at large public
gatherings such as sports events. Many television stations play
the anthem before the station closes down for the night.
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