Pulaski Street students celebrated Flag Day today with a program presented by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
The program took place this morning on the lawn of the school, at the base of the flagpole near the World War monument. It included a Riverhead High School NJROTC color guard, a history of the American flag read by DAR Suffolk Chapter regent Ann Otten, and a ritual flag-folding ceremony.
The first flag resolution was adopted by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777. The resolution mandated that the flag of the United States have 13 stripes, alternate red and white, with a union of 13 white stars on a blue field “representing a new constellation.”
Otten explained that there is some dispute over who designed and made the first American flag.
“Many of you have heard the story of Betsy Ross making the first American flag. According to the story, George Washington, Robert Morris and George Ross, Betsy’s uncle visited her in her tailor shop,” Otten told the audience. Washington and Betsy Ross were acquainted — they attended the same church and he was a customer of hers, as well. Washington brought a design he had fashioned on a piece of paper, which featured six-pointed stars on a field in no particular order. According to the story, Betsy Ross suggested five-pointed stars arranged in a circle. Washington liked the design and ordered more, Otten said.
“Betsy told the story of the first flag to her children and grandchildren. For many years, her family were the only people who knew the story,” Otten said. In 1870, her grandson William Colby made a speech about it. Some people didn’t believe him, while others did, she said. He was only 11 when his grandmother died and had no proof that the family story was true.
“A New Jersey man named Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, also claimed to have made the first Stars and Stripes,” Otten said. “He even sent a bill to Congress asking to be paid for his flag design,” she said. “But Congress didn’t pay him — they felt that many people helped design the new flag,” Otten explained.
“Historically, the story of Betsy Ross remains unproven,” Otten said. She noted that Betsy Ross did know Washington and was a seamstress. “She is one of the few women whose place in Revolutionary history stands, not beside a man, but on her own. Is her story fiction, partial truth or completely true? We may never know for sure.”
NJROTC cadets demonstrated the solemn flag-folding ritual, as members of the DAR explained the symbolic meaning of each of the 13 folds.
To commemorate the anniversary of the adoption of our flag, Congress on August 3, 1949 designated June 14 of each year as “Flag Day” and requested the President issue an annual proclamation calling for its observance. In 1966, Congress also requested the President to issue an annual proclamation designating the week in which June 14 occurs as “National Flag Week,” calling upon all citizens of the United States to display the flag during that week.
“Since the Second Continental Congress adopted its design more than 200 years ago, the Stars and Stripes has been a powerful symbol of freedom, hope, and opportunity,” President Donald Trump said in a proclamation designating Flag Week and Flag Day 2019.
“Today, and all throughout the week, let us recommit ourselves to the principles upon which our country was founded. With grateful hearts, let us reflect upon the price of freedom, and the brave souls who gave their last full measure to preserve it. As we raise our flag, as we stand and salute or place our hands over our hearts, let us renew our sacred pledge that we will forever remain “one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” the presidential proclamation reads.
The Daughters of the American Revolution has been presenting Flag Day ceremonies at Pulaski Street School for at least 17 years, since principal Dave Densieski took his post there in 2003.
RiverheadLOCAL photos by Denise Civiletti
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