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Material Labor In thinking about the symbolism of the US flag, we must also think about the materiality of the flag, which is interlocked with several physical histories of labor which can be, for the purpose of the task at hand, summarized via three oral histories of the creation of the US flag.
3 Abbreviated Oral Histories of the Creation of the US Flag
1 According to the Ross family oral history, when presented with the design of the first US flag by General George Washington, Betsy Ross, at the time known as Elizabeth Griscom, asked to change the 6-point star into a 5-point star, so she could more easily cut and sew the pattern numerous times into the fabric. 2 The 1976 painting by R. McGill Mackall shows Mary Pickersgill and her daughter sewing the Star-Spangled Banner in Baltimore, Maryland. Pickersgill was said to have created the flag at the request of military officers, after their Major, George Armistead, wanted to fortify the Baltimore Harbor by flying a flag “so large that the British will have no difficulty seeing it from a distance.” In Mackall’s painting, Pickersgill and her daughter hold the enormous flag in their laps, chatting leisurely while they sew. Pickersgill’s niece illuminates the room with a single candle. Three soldiers stand watch over the women. 3 Mary Pickersgill from Mackall’s painting owned slaves and indentured servants. Grace Wisher, a 13-year-old black girl, was contracted as Pickersgill’s indentured servant in 1810, on the premise that she would labor as a housemaid and seamstress. Former director of the Flag House, Sally Johnston, studied the title for Pickersgill’s house and belongings, which catalogs the sex and age of one enslaved woman and three enslaved young boys, all of whom remain unnamed. Grace Wisher, not present in Mackall’s painting, also made the flag.
Flags and Bodies Along with the Confederate Flag, the ‘Betsy Ross flag,’ or the first US flag (with 13 stars in a circle on a blue background, and 13 red and white stripes) has historically been used by white supremacists to perpetuate a symbol of slavery. In 2016, Superintendent Dan Behm of Forest Hills School District denounced a group of students who waved the ‘Betsy Ross flag’ (along with a pro-Trump sign) at a football game, emphasizing its ties to exclusion and bigotry. Behm’s apology received a slough of backlash from those who believed the boys were exercising their freedom of speech. As is common, a photograph of this football game depicts the students holding the ‘Betsy Ross flags’ close to their own bodies, like accessories or clothing that are part of a fashion trend. Early aesthetic descriptions of the flag are visceral and closely tied to physical, human strengths and weaknesses. While the colors of the flag are a direct echo of the British Union Jack, they are injected with symbolic meaning of their own, all of which speak to qualities usually attributed to people. On June 20, 1782, Charles Thomson reported to Congress that the “White signifies purity and innocence. Red hardiness and valour and Blue… signifies vigilance, perseverance and justice.” In a Washington Post article from 2016, Fred Barbash published 3 photographs showing various representations of the ‘Betsy Ross flag.’ Photograph #1 (taken by Matthew Patulski) Students from Forest Hills High School in Michigan hold up two flags at a football game, facing the crowd: one ‘Betsy Ross flag’ and one that reads “TRUMP Make America Great Again!” But what is most striking about this photograph is the students adornment of their own bodies with these flags. Three of the four boys wear the flag tied around their necks like capes. Photograph #2 (taken by Victor Calzada) In a celebration of Flag Day at Fort Bliss, Texas, Army Private Anthony Page holds the ‘Betsy Ross flag’ out horizontally, with his arms positioned on the pole as though it is a weapon. Photograph #3 (taken by Heather Rousseau) Depicts a float designed by the group, “Augusta County for Trump” in Buena Vista, Virginia during the Labor Day Parade. The float bears a statue of Donald Trump riding a gray horse bucking wildly into the sky. The plastic Trump sits on the back of this horse with ease, despite almost being thrown off. Here, he is not only firmly in the saddle controlling the horse, but also simultaneously holding a ‘Betsy Ross flag’ in his left hand and the US Constitution in his right.
Questions and Revisions
Given its historical origins, is it possible to reimagine/recreate a flag using the same materials? How can we rethink the materiality of flags? What materials would you use to make a flag? Reflect on the ways in which the flag relates to the body. How does your body relate to the flag? If you were to spend one week carrying a flag with you wherever you went, what would this look like for you? How can a flag be reshaped, or interacted with differently, in order to represent collective responsibility vs. individual expression?
Sources The American Flag Was Sewn in Part By A Teenage Black Girl by Rikki Byrd Maryland girl helped stitch historic ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ by Rebecca Jones |
