History
Around 1912, the Pine Bluff chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) wished to present a state flag for the commissioning of the battleship USS Arkansas. When it was discovered that Arkansas did not have a state flag, the DAR chapter decided to sponsor a contest to design a flag. Hocker, a member of the Pine Bluff DAR chapter, won with a design that is similar to the current flag. She designed the flag with three blue stars in the middle of the white diamond and omitted "ARKANSAS". At the request of the flag committee, chaired by Secretary of State Earle Hodges, Hocker added "ARKANSAS" and rearranged the stars to one on top and two on bottom. This flag was adopted by the legislature on February 26, 1913.
In 1923, the legislature added a fourth star, representing the Confederate States of America. This fourth star was originally placed so that there were two stars above the state name and two below; this was to include the Confederacy alongside Spain, France, and the United States. Since this disturbed the other two meanings of the original three stars, the legislature corrected this in 1924 by placing the Confederate star above "ARKANSAS" and the original three stars below it, as it is today.
In 2011, Act 1205 (formerly House Bill 1546) was signed by Governor Beebe adding some more details to the state flag. In the terms of colors, the red and blue used on the state flag is Old Glory Red and Old Glory Blue. The Act also stated that flags purchased by the Secretary of State must be manufactured in the United States.
Read more about this topic: Flag Of Arkansas
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“There are two great unknown forces to-day, electricity and woman, but men can reckon much better on electricity than they can on woman.”
—Josephine K. Henry, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 15, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“It would be naive to think that peace and justice can be achieved easily. No set of rules or study of history will automatically resolve the problems.... However, with faith and perseverance,... complex problems in the past have been resolved in our search for justice and peace. They can be resolved in the future, provided, of course, that we can think of five new ways to measure the height of a tall building by using a barometer.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“To history therefore I must refer for answer, in which it would be an unhappy passage indeed, which should shew by what fatal indulgence of subordinate views and passions, a contest for an atom had defeated well founded prospects of giving liberty to half the globe.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)