Tuesday 12 July 2016

By Marta Sheen


Kansas has had a dramatic history, even before it became the 34th state. Historians have reported that Native Americans were living in Kansas as early as 12,000 B.C. They were followed for centuries by many different tribes making the history of Kansas entwined with the first Americans.

Kansas has long been known as part of America's agricultural heartland and is home to the major U.S. military installation Fort Leavenworth. In 1954, it became a battleground of the civil rights movement when the landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case was decided in the Supreme Court, ending the doctrine of "separate but equal" in public schools.

Adopted on May 21, 1927, the Kansas state flag was brought in to replace the banner that had been used between 1925 and 1927 which consisted of a large sunflower and the word Kansas on a blue field. The change was made due to the banner being rejected as a state symbol that could be hung in Washington DC. The adopted flag itself was modified in 1961 to add the state name in gold capitals giving us the flag we know today.

The picture of the Kansas Flag is amazing as the meaning of the state's values is expressed by it. The twisted State Crest stands for the Louisiana Purchase, which resulted in the formation of Kansas. The depiction of the state flower or the sunflower, suggests the ability of Kansas to attend and solve its problems dauntlessly. The importance of the State Seal of the flag's center does not go unnoticed as it breathes out the tale of Kansas.

The state crest which includes the blue and gold bar represents the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. This was when the United States obtained Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana from the French. The sunflower sitting on top of the bar is shown torn from its stem with some believing it exemplifies the fearlessness with which Kansas meets her problems and solves them. The sunflower is thought to represent open frankness. The state seal which is the most detailed part of the Kansas flag tells the historical story of Kansas itself. The thirty-four stars represent Kansas as the 34th state. Above the stars is the motto ‘Ad Astra per Aspera’ which is Latin for ‘to the stars through difficulties’.

There is a barrage of cheap and inferior Kansas flags being imported and sold, that do not comply with the flag statute. This is bad for a number of reasons. Imported flags are cheaply made and more importantly, the designs, materials, colors, and methods of printing do not compare well with the better quality, longer-lasting, and correctly designed flags made by American manufacturers. The Flag Company Inc specialized in flag designs offered a special edition of decals and flags to memorize the history of Kansas flag for the future.




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