What's in a Flag? Part II
The first post in this two-part series explained that I often ask students what stories cultural items tell. Today I’ll start by finishing the list of ten things that answer that question about the Chicago flag, and then I’ll tell you about the second important question I ask my students...
6. The right-most star represents the World’s Fair of 1933.
Most Chicagoans today would probably be surprised to know a fair other than the one in 1893 even happened. The Fair’s official name was “A Century of Progress,” referring to the period between 1833 and 1933.
In 1833 the Potawatomi were forced to sign the Treaty of Chicago, even though their leaders had mostly fought on the side of the U.S. against other Native American groups during the Black Hawk Wars of the early 1830s. In the treaty, the Potawatomi agreed to vacate the area east of the Mississippi River within three years. And we all know how well that ended.
On the other hand, when Chicago was first officially designated as a town in 1833, it wasn’t much more than a swampy trading post. By 1933 it was the second largest American city and a leader in international trade and manufacturing. So, calling it a “Century of Progress” clearly depends on who you’re talking to.
7. The four stars all have six points.
Apparently, five pointed stars are reserved for sovereign nations. Who knew?And each of the six points represents yet another aspect of Chicago.
On the first star (Fort Dearborn), the points represent:
Transportation
Labor
Commerce
Finance
Populousness
Salubrity
I actually considered naming the six chapters of my dissertation after
these points. Although that would have been poetic, it was kind of like
stuffing a 15 pound hog into a 10 pound casing.*
8. The second star (the 1871 fire) has points for:
Religion
Education
Esthetics
Justice
Beneficence
Civic Pride
Come to think of it, I probably could’ve used those as chapter titles too.
9. The third star (1893 Fair) has a point for each political jurisdiction under which Chicago has existed since Europeans got involved.
1671 to 1763: France. The English colonies of Connecticut and Virginia also claimed the area.
1763 to 1782: England, through a variety of sub-jurisdictions, including Connecticut, Virginia, and Quebec, won the area from France in the aftermath of the Seven Years War.
1782 to 1787: The states of Virginia and Connecticut retained their contested colonial claims after the American Revolution. Virginia had claimed it was theirs since 1609. Connecticut claimed it since 1662. Connecticut finally won in 1784. Connecticut actually surrendered their title in 1786 because Congress had proposed a new state called Assenisipia (for reals!). Obviously, this never took hold and the flag skips over the whole Assenisipia thing. Oh and Quebec / the English still claimed it was theirs until 1795.
1787 to 1800: The Northwest Territory.
1800 to 1809: Indiana Territory.
1809 to present: Illinois Territory. Illinois became a state in 1818.
10. The fourth star’s (1933 Fair) points are:
Becoming the nation’s second largest city. (It’s now the third. Screw you, L.A.)
“Urbs in Horto” – the city’s Latin motto, which means city in a garden.
“I Will” – the city motto adopted after the 1871 fire, indicating Chicagoans’ desire to rebuild.
The “Great Central Market” – a nickname early twentieth-century businessmen in Chicago promoted in order to highlight the city’s importance in international trade and industry.
“Wonder City” – the title of an 1893 book by Eugen Seeger which told the history of the city and was probably intended to entice visitors from afar to come to the 1893 World’s Fair.
“Convention City” – although modern Chicagoans might think this also refers to Chicago’s business activities, it is actually a nod to politics. By 1933, when this star was added, Chicago had hosted ten Republican national conventions and five Democratic ones, making it the most popular city for national political conventions.
Ok, so that's an awful lot of info. Most of which you won't remember. But now for the second question I ask my students about cultural objects:
What does the Chicago flag leave out?
A lot. Here are a few examples:
The Native Americans who were the ones to reveal the portage to Jolliet and Marquette.
The men and women who invested their labor and lives into the industries which made men like Marshall Field, Potter Palmer, and George Pullman millionaires.
The 1919 Race Riots, when Irish gangs terrorized the African Americans of the city.
Jane Addams, the first American woman to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for her work in the field of international peace.
Some people might say that I’m being a stereotypical revisionist historian when I note that Native Americans, the laboring classes, racial minorities, and women are left out of the story that the Chicago flag tells.
But what is left out tells us just as much about the flag as what’s included.
The flag was a marketing tool, a calling card even, for a city where business and trade and industry ruled, politically, financially, and socially. The men who designed the flag designed it to tell their story and to serve their purposes.
But what is Chicago today? I’m not arguing for changing the flag – let’s face it – it’s aesthetically pleasing and if we changed it now, tattoo-correction might suddenly become the city’s first industry. Leave a comment and tell me what symbols, colors, and shapes you think represent Chicago today. I’d love to know.
*That’s meat-packing lingo, in case you didn’t know.
