PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ... AN IMMIGRANT

                       

                    AN  IMMIGRANT LOOKS AT THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

                                                                  

         I stood like a soldier next to my desk my first day of school in Miami. The other children placed their hand upon their hearts. The teacher started the words that sounded like, " I blah, blah, to the United States of America, and blah, blah, blah, in the invisible.... Those are the words this immigrant, at age ten, heard ... not understanding English well. INVISIBLE threw me!  How did the United States become invisible? Did it have super powers?  I mumbled, trying to fit in. So many new things to learn! What did all this mean?

        Not too long after, I found gold in America, the school had a library. My love affair with books and my courting with the encyclopedias continued its course.

       Today, I'm wedded to resources that bring me new interesting information.

                Here's what I found.

            The Pledge Of Allegiance ...  did you know?

             1. The Pledge of Allegiance was written by a Christian socialist who was a Baptist minister, in 1892, by the name of Francis Bellamy. (1855-1931)

             2. Bellamy said, "The time was ripe for a reawakening of simple Americanism and the leaders in the new movement rightly felt that patriotic education should begin in the public schools."

             3. The original form of the pledge read:

                "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

             4. In 1923, there was a change. The words "my Flag," were changed to the words, "the Flag of the United States," so that new immigrants would pledge their loyalty to their new country and not confuse their loyalties between their birth countries and the United States.

             5.  In 1954, because of the Communist threat of that time, President Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words "under God." Today the pledge reads:

                " I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

             6. Originally, Bellamy's pledge went with a Bellamy salute. It was a military salute to the flag that appeared much like the salute given to Hitler. This was changed, replacing the salute with keeping the right hand over the heart.

                                                                           

            

             7. Because of religious beliefs, a controversy arose about the pledge. Jehovah's Witnesses considered the flag salute to be idolatry.

             8. In 1943, the Supreme Court reversed its decision, ruling in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette that public school students are not required to say the Pledge. This stated that "compulsory unification of opinion" violates the First Amendment.

             9. The Court also stated later that students should not be required to stand for the Pledge.

           10.  About one-half of the states encourage schools to recite the pledge.

         * And as for me, in my fifth grade class, I finally found a librarian who gave me the words of the Pledge and I memorized them ... part of my acclamation into the new land I so quickly learned to love!

                                              Happy Fourth Of July!

                 Thanks to:  Wikepedia, and UShistory.org and  PATRIOT ICON