The Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia in the winter of 1776,
received an urgent message. Please fix upon some particular color for a
flag. It was from an understandably exasperated George Washington. The
Continental Armies had taken the field under a babble of emblems and
devices. Even the Grand Union flag that flew over naval vessels confused
the issue with its display of the crosses of the British flag in its
canton. So, at Washington's request, Congress wrestled with the design,
and on June 14, 1777, almost a year after the signing of Declaration of
Independence, on the date still celebrated as Flag Day, the United
States finally had a flag all its own. Every era has a flag story to
tell. Suffragettes, Know-Nothings, babies, Boy Scouts, and the Ku Klux
Klan have all claimed it as their own. It flies in moments of victory,
on Iwo Jima during World War II, and in moments of profound sorrow, when
America grieved for the victims of 9/11. Old Glory: Unfurling History
describes the histories and myths surrounding the flag of the United
States of America from its revolutionary birth to the present day, and
is lavishly illustrated from the collections of the Library of Congress.
Karal Ann Marling is professor of Art History and American Studies at
the University of Minnesota. She has published extensively, and her
recent books include: George Washington Slept Here, Graceland: Going
Home with Elvis, and Illusions of Eden: Visions of the American
Heartland.
