A 250th birthday for the country has revived a flag — and a piece of folklore — that generations of Americans grew up on.
Flags with a number and a story
Ahead of the July 4 celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the fraternal benefit society WoodmenLife is distributing commemorative flags styled after the Betsy Ross design — thirteen stars in a circle, thirteen stripes, and a "250" worked into the cloth — to schools, first responders and community groups, ABC7 reported. In Southern California, the Los Angeles Korean Festival Foundation was among the recipients. "It's important to remember our history while also recognizing the diverse communities that continue to contribute to America's future," said Kenny Kim, a WoodmenLife representative who helped coordinate the local handout.
The legend behind the stars
The design carries a story most American schoolchildren know — and that historians treat with care. By long-standing family tradition, the Philadelphia upholsterer Elizabeth "Betsy" Ross was visited in 1776 by a committee including George Washington and asked to sew the first U.S. flag, even persuading Washington to switch from six-pointed stars to a simpler five-pointed shape. The trouble is that the account can't be verified: as Wikipedia notes, citing historians, "there is no archival evidence or other recorded verbal tradition to substantiate this story," which first surfaced in her grandson's writings in the 1870s — nearly a century later. What is documented is that Ross did make flags; a 1777 payment record shows she was paid for flag work for the Pennsylvania Navy, and she produced flags professionally for decades. Historians more often credit Francis Hopkinson, who submitted a contemporary claim for flag-design work, as the era's best-documented designer.
A perspective on freedom
For Yonah Hong of the Los Angeles Korean Festival Foundation, the flag carried a meaning reaching beyond American borders. "We have a history of the Korean War," Hong said. "If it wasn't for the U.S. soldiers coming to our country, Korea wouldn't have their freedom." She added: "As an Asian American, as a Korean American — we're very proud to be U.S. citizens."
America at 250
The handout arrives amid a sweeping national commemoration, organized in part by the congressionally established America250 effort, that has drawn both celebration and debate. For many Americans, though, the milestone will be marked simply — a barbecue, a parade and a flag in the July heat: thirteen stars in a circle, two and a half centuries old in spirit, if not entirely in documented fact.
