The
History Of Flag Day
The Fourth of July was traditionally celebrated as America's
birthday, but the idea of an annual day specifically
celebrating the Flag is believed to have first originated in
1885. BJ Cigrand, a schoolteacher, arranged for the pupils in
the Fredonia, Wisconsin Public School, District 6, to observe
June 14 (the 108th anniversary of the official adoption of The
Stars and Stripes) as 'Flag Birthday'. In numerous magazines
and newspaper articles and public addresses over the following
years, Cigrand continued to enthusiastically advocate the
observance of June 14 as 'Flag Birthday', or 'Flag Day'.
On June 14, 1889, George Balch, a kindergarten teacher in New
York City, planned appropriate ceremonies for the children of
his school, and his idea of observing Flag Day was later
adopted by the State Board of Education of New York. On June
14, 1891, the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia held a Flag Day
celebration, and on June 14 of the following year, the New
York Society of the Sons of the Revolution, celebrated Flag
Day.
Following the suggestion of Colonel J Granville Leach (at the
time historian of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the
Revolution), the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames of
America on April 25, 1893 adopted a resolution requesting the
mayor of Philadelphia and all others in authority and all
private citizens to display the Flag on June 14th. Leach went
on to recommend that thereafter the day be known as 'Flag
Day', and on that day, school children be assembled for
appropriate exercises, with each child being given a small
Flag.
Two weeks later on May 8th, the Board of Managers of the
Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution unanimously
endorsed the action of the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial
Dames. As a result of the resolution, Dr. Edward Brooks, then
Superintendent of Public Schools of Philadelphia, directed
that Flag Day exercises be held on June 14, 1893 in
Independence Square. School children were assembled, each
carrying a small Flag, and patriotic songs were sung and
addresses delivered.
In 1894, the governor of New York directed that on June 14 the
Flag be displayed on all public buildings. With BJ Cigrand and
Leroy Van Horn as the moving spirits, the Illinois
organization, known as the American Flag Day Association, was
organized for the purpose of promoting the holding of Flag Day
exercises. On June 14th, 1894, under the auspices of this
association, the first general public school children's
celebration of Flag Day in Chicago was held in Douglas,
Garfield, Humboldt, Lincoln, and Washington Parks, with more
than 300,000 children participating.
Adults, too, participated in patriotic programs. Franklin K.
Lane, Secretary of the Interior, delivered a 1914 Flag Day
address in which he repeated words he said the flag had spoken
to him that morning: "I am what you make me; nothing
more. I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a
symbol of yourself."
Inspired by these three decades of state and local
celebrations, Flag Day - the anniversary of the Flag
Resolution of 1777 - was officially established by the
Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30th, 1916.
While Flag Day was celebrated in various communities for years
after Wilson's proclamation, it was not until August 3rd,
1949, that President Truman signed an Act of Congress
designating June 14th of each year as National Flag
Day.
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