American Flag Day
Description:
Every year, Americans decorate their homes with flags to show their patriotism. A special spike in "star-stripe" was observed in the United States after the infamous events of September 11.
The idea of celebrating the Flag Festival every year seems to date back to 1885. B.J. Sigrand, a schoolteacher, organized it for pupils in Fredonia, at a comprehensive school in Wisconsin, 6th District, to celebrate June 14 (108th anniversary of the official approval of Stars and Stripes) as "Flag Birthday." In numerous articles in magazines and newspapers and in personal letters in the following years, Sigrand continued to enthusiastically promote the celebration of June 14 as "Flag Birthday" or "Flag Day."
On June 14, 1889, George Balch, a primary school teacher in New York City, planned a beautiful ceremony for the children of his school, and his idea of celebrating Flag Day was later adopted by the Board of Education in New York State. On June 14, 1891, the city of Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia supported Flag Day celebrations, and on June 14 of the following year, the Society of the Sons of the Revolution of New York celebrated Flag Day.
Following the advice of Colonel J. Granville Leach (at that time a historian at the Society of the Sons of the Revolution in Pennsylvania), the Society of Colonial Communities of America in Pennsylvania on April 25, 1893, decided to ask the Mayor of Philadelphia and other authoritative and ordinary citizens to celebrate Flag Day on June 14. Leach suggested that this holiday be celebrated as Flag Day, and on this day schoolchildren were called for certain classes and each child was given a small Flag.
Two weeks later, on May 8, the Office of the Society of the Sons of the Revolution in Pennsylvania unanimously supported the actions of the Society of Colonial Communities of America in Pennsylvania. As a result of the decision, Dr. Edward Brooks, then Head of Public Schools in Philadelphia, ordered that Flag Day performances be held on June 14, 1883, in Independence Square. The students were built, each carrying a small flag, singing patriotic songs and making speeches.
In 1894, the governor of New York decreed that the June 14 Flag Day celebrations should be displayed on public buildings. It was then that flags began to be hung on houses to show their patriotism. Together with B.J. Sigrand and Leroy Van Horn as the main inspirations, in Illinois, the organization known as the Flag Day Association was founded with the purpose of campaigning and organizing the holiday. On June 14, 1894, Flag Day was celebrated for the first time in most public schools in Chicago: Douglas, Garfield, Humboldt, Lincoln, and Washington Parks, with the participation of more than 300,000 children.
Adults also participated in patriotic programs. Franklin C. Lane, Minister of the Field, gave a Flag Day speech in 1914, in which the words on behalf of the flag were: "I am what you have made me." I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of light, I am a symbol of yourself.
Inspired by these three decades of celebrations in the states and parts of the country, Flag Day – the anniversary of the adoption of the Flag in 1777 – was officially proclaimed by President Woodrow Wilson on May 30, 1916. At that time, Flag Day was celebrated in various communities for many years after Wilson’s proclamation. On August 3, 1949, President Truman signed an Act of Congress that designated June 14 as National Flag Day.
About the flag: 13 identical stripes of red (top and bottom) alternate with white; in the upper left corner there is a blue rectangle with 50 small stars painted so that nine lines of stars alternate six and five, with a shift through one row; 50 stars symbolize the 50 states, 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies; it is called Old Glory; design and colors have become the basis of many other flags, including Chile, Liberia, Malaysia, and Puerto Rico.