Flag Day

“There are many flags in many lands
There are flags of every hue
But there is no flag
However grand like our own red, white, and blue

Then hurrah for the flag
Our country's flag
Its stripes and white stars too
There is no flag in any land
Like our own red, white and blue” (There Are Many Flags In Many Lands)

Each Flag Day, on the front lawn of Linden Elementary School, Grades Kindergarten to Eight would parade from our front doors to form a circle around the flag pole. Our Music Teacher Miss Marie Cyphers, having taught all grades the lyrics to this song, would find stand by her piano watching as these future American Patriots lined up and celebrated Flag Day. We began with, of course, the American National Anthem, followed by Many Flags, finished our half an hour-long ceremony with God Bless America.  A passage from the New Testament and a quote from one of our Founding Father’s would be recited by our Principle, and one of the eighth-graders from the A section of that grade (in the 1950’s God was a part of our curriculum in Public Schools, and in Pittsburgh, it was also prevalent to keep the smart kids together Group A, the less smart in their own section, Group B and the rest of the kids ( the future blue-collar workers I suppose) in the C Group! We then placed our hands on our chest Pledged Allegiance to OUR Flag. Then 99.5% of the white kids along with the point 5 % of the two Negro Kids returned to our classrooms. 

We were taught to live in straight lines, follow orders, believe that America’s freedom was based on Judeo-Christian values (primarily the Christian part of that phrase,) that obeying authority meant being a good American, and above all else, God did Bless America, we were one nation under God. I lived in a very Jewish neighborhood, so the majority of my classmates were Jewish, but we also were taught that diversity was not the true purpose of this country, and to understand the true path forward not to sway from a very common ground of Patriotism, which was and would always be White, Christian and male-dominated! Happy Flag Day!