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State
Capitol, Rm 256
Little Rock, AR
72201
501-682-1010
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Educational Materials -
Flag | |
The Story of the Arkansas
Flag
 Can you
imagine Arkansas' flag with an ocean steamer or a
dancing bear? Instead of the handsome and
dignified red flag centered with a diamond and
stars, such flags could have flown over the
twenty-fifth state if a 1913 committee had not
acted with wisdom.
The battleship U.S.S.
Arkansas was to be commissioned and the Pine Bluff
chapter of the Daughters of the American
Revolution voted to present a state flag to the
ship. But first, the flag committee of the chapter
had to learn about the state flag. A letter to the
Secretary of State Earl W. Hodges was sent by a
committee of three, Mrs. C.W. Pettigrew (whose
idea it was in the first place), Mrs. W.A. Taggart
and Mrs. Frank Tomlinson. Before long they had the
answer: there was no state flag.
The Pine
Bluff group decided to correct the situation by
holding a statewide flag contest. Mr. Hodges was
asked to act as custodian for entries. Sixty-five
separate designs were entered in the contest. Some
were crayon drawings and some were flag miniatures
on silk.
As the state flower, the apple
blossom appeared on a number of designs. One
centered with the flower was scattered with stars
representing the United States. There were
thirteen rays on it for the original states and
the colors were red, white and blue. One flag used
just the apple blossom, four of them in colorful
blocks. Another design used the outline of
Arkansas and the state seal with red, white and
blue.
Mr. Hodges was chairman of the
committee to select the flag and he chose a
distinguished list of members: Dr. Junius Jordan,
the chairman of philosophy and pedagogy at the
University of Arkansas; Mrs. Julia McAlmont Noel,
a member of the John McAlmont Chapter of the
D.A.R. in Pine Bluff; Miss Julia Warner, a teacher
in the Little Rock school system, and Mrs. P. H.
Ellsworth, a former president of the Arkansas
Federation of Women's Clubs.
In the early
days of 1913 the committee gathered in Mr. Hodges'
office and worked on choosing a flag. As a winner
they chose the red, white and blue design of Miss
Willie Hocker of Wabbaseka, a member of the Pine
Bluff chapter of the D.A.R., where the search
originated.
On a rectangular field of red,
Miss Hocker had placed a large white diamond
bordered by twenty-five white stars on a blue
band. Three blue stars in a straight line were
centered in the diamond.
Miss Hocker
explained that the colors in her design meant that
Arkansas was one of the United States of America.
The three blue stars had three meanings: Arkansas
belonged to three countries (France, Spain, and
the United States) before attaining statehood;
1803 was the year of the Louisiana Purchase when
the land that is now Arkansas was acquired by the
United States; and Arkansas was the third state
created from the purchase by the United States,
after Louisiana and Missouri.
The
twenty-five stars mean that Arkansas was the
twenty-fifth state to be admitted to the Union.
The diamond represents Arkansas as the nation's
first diamond-producing state.The two parallel
white stars at the left and right points of the
diamond symbolize the dual admission of Arkansas
and Michigan to the Union. Both were admitted to
the Union about the same time-Arkansas on June 15,
1836 and Michigan on January 26, 1837.
On
February 26, 1913, the legislature made Miss
Hocker's design the state's official flag. The
U.S.S. Arkansas received her flag from the Pine
Bluff Chapter of the D.A.R.
Then there was
trouble...there was no indication on the flag that
Arkansas had been a member of the Confederate
States of America from 1861 to 1865. To correct
that, the legislature in 1923 added a fourth blue
star above the letter "R" in Arkansas and moved
the single blue star to a position above the last
"A". But, a furor arose and many claimed that the
original symmetry and meaning of the design were
destroyed.
So in 1924 the legislature
placed three blue stars below the word "Arkansas"
and one above, the way the flag is
today.
The three stars below "Arkansas"
retained the meanings Miss Hocker had set and the
lone star above the word is to commemorate
Arkansas' membership in the
Confederacy.
And so it remains today...a
proud banner that flies for all Arkansans.
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