"Flag Salute" is a poem written by

Esther Popel Esther Popel (July 16, 1896 – January 28, 1958; also known as Esther Popel Shaw) was an African-American poet of the Harlem Renaissance, an activist, and an educator. She wrote and edited for magazines such as ''The Crisis'', the ''Journal of N ...

about the lynching of George Armwood on October 18, 1933 in

Princess Anne, Maryland Princess Anne is a town in Somerset County, Maryland, United States, that also serves as its county seat. Its population was 3,290 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Salisbury, Maryland–Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is not ...

. It was first published in August 1934 in ''

The Crisis ''The Crisis'' is the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). It was founded in 1910 by W. E. B. Du Bois (editor), Oswald Garrison Villard, J. Max Barber, Charles Edward Russell, Kelly Mi ...

'' and later republished in its entirety on the cover of ''The Crisis'' in 1940. It juxtaposes the murder of Armwood with quotations from the

Pledge of Allegiance The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States is a patriotic recited verse that promises allegiance to the flag of the United States and the republic of the United States of America. The first version, with a text different from the one used ...

. The poem reflects that lynching in the United States had become a "ritual of interracial social control." Flag Salute ''“I pledge allegiance to the flag”––'' They dragged him naked Through the muddy streets, A feeble-minded black boy! And the charge? Supposed assault Upon an aged woman! ''“Of the United States of America”—'' One mile the dragged him Like a sack of meal, A rope around his neck, A bloody ear Left dangling by the patriotic hand Of Nordic youth! (A boy of seventeen!) ''“And to the Republic for which it stands”—'' And then they hanged his body to a tree, Below the window of the county judge Those pleadings for that battered human flesh Were stifled by the brutish, raucous howls Of men, and boys, and women with their babes, Brought out to see the bloody spectacle Of murder in the style of ‘33! (Three thousand strong, they were!) ''“one Nation, Indivisible”—'' To make the tale complete They built a fire— What matters that the stuff they burned Was flesh—and bone—and hair— And reeking gasoline! ''“With Liberty—and Justice”—'' They cut the rope in bits And passed them out, For souvenirs, among the men and boys! The teeth no doubt, on golden chains Will hang About the favored necks of sweethearts, wives, And daughters, mothers, sisters, babies, too! ''“For ALL!”'' —Esther Popel

References

{{reflist Harlem Renaissance Racially motivated violence against African Americans 1934 poems Poems about death Historical poems Lynching in the United States