The flag of the

Commonwealth of Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, United States, was adopted on March 26, 1918.

History

The flag was designed by Jesse Cox Burgess, an art teacher in Frankfort, the state capital. It was adopted by the

Kentucky General Assembly The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It comprises the Kentucky Senate and the Kentucky House of Representatives. The General Assembly meets annually in ...

on March 26, 1918.

Design

The flag consists of the Commonwealth's seal on a navy blue field, surrounded by the words "Commonwealth of Kentucky" above and sprigs of

goldenrod Goldenrod is a common name for many species of flowering plants in the sunflower family, Asteraceae, commonly in reference to the genus '' Solidago''. Several genera, such as '' Euthamia'', were formerly included in a broader concept of the gen ...

, the state flower, below. The seal depicts a pioneer and a statesman embracing. Popular belief claims that the buckskin-clad man on the left is

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the we ...

, who was largely responsible for the exploration of Kentucky, and the man in the suit on the right is Henry Clay, Kentucky's most famous statesman. However, the official explanation is that the men represent all frontiersmen and statesmen, rather than any specific persons. In 2001, the

North American Vexillological Association The North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) is a membership organization devoted to vexillology, the scientific and scholarly study of flags. It was founded in 1967 by American vexillologist Whitney Smith (1940–2016), and others. It ...

(NAVA) surveyed its members on the designs of the 72 Canadian provincial,

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

, and U.S. territorial flags; Kentucky's flag was ranked 66th.

Pledge

In 2000, the General Assembly adopted the following pledge of allegiance to the flag of Kentucky:

References

External links

Kentucky's State Flag
(Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kentucky, Flag of United States state flags Flag Flags of Kentucky

History

Design

Pledge

See also

References

External links