This is 99% Invisible.

I'm Roman Mars.

Let me be the first to wish you a happy flag day.

I assume I'm the first.

I'm probably the only person to wish you a happy flag day.

For those of you beautiful nerds who weren't aware, flag day is June 14th.

So consider this your advanced notice.

If you haven't hoisted your favorite flag on your howard up to the truck or finial of

your flagpole to admire its field and canton and watch the fly end wave in the wind, well,

you still have time.

Anyone who's listened to 99% of Isabel Regarly or seen my TED Talk about flags knows that

we here at 9-9-PI, we have a thing for flags.

Our stories have helped inspire people around the world to design and submit dozens of new

flags to local and state governments.

These can be beautiful things that give communities something symbolic to rally around.

They can also be divisive and horrible.

But since the beginning of the show, I've always liked using them as a way to talk about

our lives as humans.

And this year we decided to get the flag day celebration started early and then keep

the party going with two whole weeks of flag related stories.

Before we dive in though, let's take a brief look at the history of the most popular flag

in the country, which is of course the flag of the country.

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