If you grew up in Alaska, at one point or another you have learned about Benny Benson and the creation of the Alaska state flag. If you are like me, the details of the story became a little faded over the years. So on July 9, Alaska Flag Day, I am revisiting the story of our "simple flag," and I hope you too will find a renewed sense of pride in our flag's beautiful simplicity.
The Alaska flag is much more than the constellation you find stamped on T-shirts and truck decals. It is a flag with a fascinating history, and it provides us with a unique opportunity to hold up and celebrate our Alaska Native community and learn from our past.
In early 1927, territorial leaders in Alaska were convinced that a flag was the foot-in-the-door they needed for statehood and persuaded the Alaska American Legion to hold a contest for its design. The contest was open to all Alaska school children grades 7-12.
One of the competition's youngest contestants, 13-year-old Benny Benson, designed the winning flag. Benny, an Aleut from Chignik, designed the flag while a resident at the Jesse Lee Home in Seward. The home housed and educated hundreds of Alaska Native children, many of whom lost their families to epidemics that ravaged Alaska villages during the time.
An often-overlooked figure in the story is a young Eskimo woman named Fanny Kearns, a seamstress at the home who sewed the first Alaska flag out of leftover cloth. It was on this day in 1927 that that flag was raised for the first time at the home in Seward at a dedication ceremony for the opening of the Balto Building.
In a description of his design, which reads wise beyond his years, Benny wrote: "The blue field is for the Alaska sky and the forget-me-not, an Alaska flower. The North Star is for the future of the state of Alaska, the most northerly in the Union. The dipper is for the Great Bear -- symbolizing strenth (sic)."
When education commissioner Marie Drake was tasked with writing a poem to familiarize school children with the new flag, she clearly echoed Benny's words. The poem later became the lyrics to the venerable "Alaska's Flag" song.
So it was a 13-year-old who designed the flag that has symbolized our state for over 80 years, and whose words resonate in our state song. What is even more remarkable is that it was an Aleut who did so, when only four years earlier Alaska Natives were not considered citizens under the law. Even in the decades following citizenship, Alaska Natives throughout the state faced fierce racism and segregation.
Benny and Fanny's flag, despite coming out of an often shameful part of our history, stands as a reminder that when we treat all people as equals, we learn that things like race and ethnicity have no bearing on our intelligence, ability or moral character. This is something we should respect and celebrate.
Nellie Metcalfe is the community outreach coordinator for Friends of the Jesse Lee Home, a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring the historic Jesse Lee Home in Seward and making it the new home to a statewide public residential leadership school. To learn more visit www.jesseleehome.com or www.baltoschool.net.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com