[GUEST AUTHOR: Rachel Rodewald contributed this patriotic post as a special installment of Writing for the Public Square. Rachel holds a Master’s Degree in History from George Mason University.]
Flags and banners remain a tangible expression of the patriotism our Founding Fathers inspired generations ago.
Imagine you are a soldier in the Continental Army and you’ve just scored a victory on the battlefield. You want to rally with your peers to celebrate your success, but the confusion of the moment—the literal fog of war—has you turned around and lost. Then, in the distance, you spot it. Your regimental flag with its distinctive colors and symbols waves in the smoke-filled air—a patriotic beacon of hope and brotherhood.
Thankfully, today we associate our flags more with celebration and patriotism and less with the stress and anxiety of war. The American flag and some state and local flags are now ubiquitous and inspiring. They fly in public settings like post offices and banks, baseball games and parades, political rallies and memorial services. We even wear them on patriotic shirts and hats.
We display and maintain our flags with specific, respectful criteria. A familiarity with foreign flags even helps us better understand international sporting events and helps us connect current events to impressions we might have about those countries.
So why were flags and banners so important to an early American nation? And how did they become such a powerful part of the American story?
Continue reading “New Colors for a New Nation: A Patriotic Display”