Our First Flag

by Jim Kleefeld

Have the loaded Declaration of Independence and the three silks handy, but out of sight.

When you read, do you make a list of your favorite characters? I do. I usually have new favorite
characters depending on what I’m reading. Last year I was excited about Klaus, Violet and
Sunny Baudelaire from Lemony Snicket’s Unfortunate Events series. This past month I read a
great biography about Betsy Ross and she became a favorite character. Raise your hand if you
know what a biography is. Good - lots of smart students. Raise your hand if you have read a
biography. Good - lots of readers. Raise your hand if you want to tell everyone what a biography
is.

Choose someone who volunteered and let them give a de nition to the group.

That’s right - a biography is a book that tells about the life of a real person. Because they are
about true events, biographies are non- ction. I just nished a biography of Betsy Ross. Does
anyone know what Betsy Ross did?

Choose someone who appears to really know the answer and let them tell the group.

That’s right, she sewed the rst American ag. And that is told in the name of this book. It’s
“Betsy Ross: Designer of Our Flag” by Ann Well. Betsy and her husband owned an upholstery
business in Philadelphia. Then her husband died in an ammunition explosion and she ran the
business by herself. The author tells how Betsy was a friend of George Washington who met with
her and some other colonists. Together they came up with the idea for the ag. Well, here let me
show you. I brought a ag…

Reach behind the table and bring out red, white and blue silks. Hold them up for display and then
suddenly act confused and disappointed.

Oh, wait. This isn’t the ag I wanted to show you. I guess I grabbed the wrong thing. I was in a
bit of a hurry to get here, and I saw this red, white and blue, but it’s just three scarves, not the
ag. I guess I can’t show you the First Flag. It looked a bit different than the ag we have today.
There were only 13 colonies at that time, so Betsy put only 13 stars in the blue eld. It was her
idea to put ve-pointed stars. George Washington had suggested six-pointed stars, but Betsy
knew that from a distance, stars with six points would have a larger center and might look more
round than pointed. I’m sorry I can’t show you our First Flag with those 13 stars arranged in a
circle because . . . Oh! I just had an idea. This is a magic show, right? Well, maybe I can make a
ag out of these by magic. Let me just get a helper. Can you come up and give me a hand?

Pick a quiet, smiling young girl, about ve to seven years old.

Hi, what’s your name? Sherri? It’s nice to meet you, Sherri. My name is Jim Kleefeld. Can you
help me out with this ag problem? Have you ever read about Betsy Ross? No? That’s OK,
maybe you can check at the library later and nd a book about her. In the meantime, I’ll just
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 explain what the book said about how Betsy Ross made the First Flag. Take this red scarf in your
right hand.

Put the red scarf in her right hand.

Now take the white one in your left hand.

Put the white one in her left hand.

Now take the blue one in your other hand.

Act confused as to why she has run out of hands, and begin exchanging the scarves she is
holding, always leaving her with one in each hand and another one that you hold.

Oh, wait. Take the blue scarf in your right hand. Take the red one in your left hand, and take the
white one in your other hand.

Finally decide that there is a “hand shortage” and give her the last scarf.

You just have two hands? Well, just hold onto all of them.

Supposing the helper is on your left, she should end up with the blue scarf alone in her left hand
and both the red and white ones in her right hand, closest to you. This makes it easier for you to
“forget” to take the blue one later.

Now, Sherri, according to Betsy Ross’ biography, here is all you have to do. Get some scissors
and cut the red and white scarves into strips. You’ll need thirteen in all, six white and seven red.
Make them the full length of the scarves. After you’ve done that, take three of the red and three of
the white and cut them shorter than the others by about a third. Now take the blue scarf and cut
out a rectangle that is about three- fths the aggregate size of the joined striped pieces. With the
remaining white pieces, cut thirteen stars, make sure they are ve pointed, not six, and about the
height of each stripe. Now get a needle and thread and sew the shorter red and white strips
together in an alternating pattern beginning with the red, and add the longer stripes to the
bottom of that pattern with the longer ends abutting. After you get those pieces sewn together,
join the blue rectangle to the adjacent short sides in the adjoining space left by the conjoining of
the alternating stripes and embellish the blue eld with the decorative geometric shapes made by
the previous cuts in a circular pattern centered on the rectangular eld, creating a perfect replica
of the First Flag as designed by…

Begin slowly, but gradually speak faster and faster in this explanation until it becomes obvious to
everyone that the directions are way too complicated. Then stop and look at the helper. Wait for
the laughter as the audience and you realize that your directions were far too long.

Or we could just use some colonial magic. I think maybe the most magical thing that came out of
this time in our history was that amazing document, The Declaration of Independence. Let’s see
if running this ag design through the Declaration of Independence can help solidify anything.
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Take out the Declaration of Independence and display it for the audience to see.

Oh, no! Sherri, This Declaration of Independence is so old, I’m not sure there is any magic left
in it. Maybe there is some residue left. Sherri, do you think there’s any residue in there?

She will probably say “no.”

No? Do you know what residue is?

She will probably say “no.”

No? Well, you’re in school, ask your teacher.

Say this almost as a polite afterthought not in any way mean or demanding. Delivered dryly,
almost as an aside, it will garner quite a few laughs from the adults in the audience. While you
deliver the line, roll up the paper. Take the red and white scarves from the helper and shove them
in the tube while addressing the audience.

I’ll just put these scarves in the Declaration of Independence and see if there’s any magic left in
this old paper.

Tap the tube against your hand several times and pull out the ag. Hand the top corners to the
volunteer to hold up for display.

Look. She did it! Our First American ag, just like magic. You see, I told you it had 13 stars
arranged in a circle! I guess the magic never died for this grand country. The magic of freedom
that began with a Declaration of Independence.

Unroll the paper and display it next to the ag. Then gather both props, set them aside, thank the
helper and send her back with a token of appreciation and a round of applause.
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