| 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. B J 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 if 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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