Lady Liberty

I know you're probably very knowledgeable about things that are important to Americans, such as Lady Liberty.  However, I'm sure I can still tell you at least one thing that you didn't know before or that you had forgotten!

• Lady Liberty has seven rays shining from her crown.  They represent the seven seas and continents of the world.

• Liberty Island was called Bedloe's Island before The Statue of Liberty was placed there.

• There are 354 stairs to reach the crown. Or, you can take the elevator! 

• Liberty Enlightening the World is the official name the sculptor, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi,  gave to the Statue.

• The total weight of the Statue of Liberty (not including the foundation) is 225 tons (or 450,000 pounds).

•  Emma Lazarus wrote the poem that is engraved on the base of Lady Liberty.  It is called "The New Colossus"--"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."

• Lady Liberty has a 35-foot waistline!

•  There are 25 windows in the crown.

•  Winds of 50 miles per hour cause the Statue to sway up to 3 inches and the torch up to 6 inches.

•   Read,  Lady Liberty, How She Came to Be an American Symbol of Freedom.

The American Flag

Are you a vexillologist?  Keep on reading to find out!

• Massachusetts was the first state to require schoolhouses to have a flag and flagpole.  Today every public school in the country flies a flag outside.

• Some other names we call our flag are:  Stars and Stripes, Star-Spangled Banner, Old Glory, The Red, White, and Blue.

• On August 3, 1940, President Harry S. Truman made June 14 National Flag Day.

• The three colors on the flag stand for:  Red, courage; white, purity; blue, loyalty.

• Only State Governors and the President of the United States can give orders as to when the flags on government buildings are to be set at half staff.

• The Fort McHenry flag is the flag Francis Scott Key was looking at when he wrote The Star-Spangled Banner.  Today this flag is kept in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.  It is kept behind a curtain for protection from dust and light.  Visitors to the Smithsonian can see this flag for only a few moments every hour when the curtain is opened.

• The study of flags is Vexillology (vek-seh-LAH-leh-jee).

•  Someone who knows a lot about flags is a vexillologist (vek-seh-LAH-leh-jist). (So now after reading this blog post, you are closer to being a vexillologist than you were before!)

• The American Flag of today looks different from the first flag made in 1777. Follow the journey of this American symbol for freedom and learn how Americans finally agreed on the design!  The American Flag as a Symbol For Freedom