Have you thought about North Carolina’s flag recently? Chances are, probably not. For many people in the state, the flag often just fades into the background. They pass it on the highway, see it in front of a local building now and again, but don’t ever consider it. The flag isn’t something that’s particularly valued, admired or even thought about. It just exists, and that’s all that can be said about it.
The modern North Carolina flag has its origins in 1885, when it originally passed the NC House and Senate in only 32 days, which, in terms of legislation, is lightning fast. In an average session, nothing legislators think is important takes 32 days to pass through the General Assembly. This clearly wasn’t their main priority, and the apathy of the General Assembly in 1885 has become the apathy of NC citizens today. So what did people at the time think of the State flag’s creation?
Well, as it turns out, they didn’t. Some newspapers only reported the name of the bill in the context of listing other bills being proposed and passed. Others simply described the flag, and just two opinion pieces were published by our research, neither of which had a positive view of the new flag.
The only other development was in 1991 with two changes to the flag: widening the blue field and, the most important amendment of all, removing the commas from the dates on the flag. How long did those simple amendments take, you may ask? A total of 84 days, nearly three times as long as the original bill took.
Think about other states, like Texas, Maryland and South Carolina. What about those flags inspires such pride? Well, they all tend to follow a set of guidelines for flag design compiled and presented in the North American Vexillological Association’s pamphlet “‘Good’ Flag, ‘Bad’ Flag.” First, keep it simple. Second, use meaningful symbolism. Third, use two to three basic colors. Fourth, no lettering or seals and fifth, be distinctive or be related.
How does North Carolina score on these guidelines? Well, the flag is relatively simple in layout, but the dates have to be specifically memorized, making it difficult to recall the design. Furthermore, those dates relate to important contributions in the history of North Carolina, but the fact that they have to have the full date spelled out on the flag is explicit; the opposite of being symbolic.
In essence, flags are symbols, so their components should imply meaning not just state it. The color scheme is the flag’s greatest strength with the colors being complementary and distinguishable. The North Carolina flag fails on the “no lettering” point and gets a point off for putting the state’s initials on the flag.
Lastly, North Carolina’s flag, without the text and banners, is simply a flipped flag of Texas. It’s not distinctive, and the layout isn’t related to anything at all. In short, North Carolina gets one point out of five, with one point off for putting its name on the assignment.
There’s never been a better time for North Carolina to amend its flag. Other states have recently changed their flags to great success. Utah’s flag replacement came into effect this year and has been met with widespread acceptance and appreciation by the public. Mississippi had a high-profile flag change in 2021 and garnered great public enthusiasm. Other states want to change their flag as well, with Minnesota establishing a commission to explore the matter this year.
North Carolinians have plenty to be proud of: the natural beauty of the state we live in as well as its history of exploration, innovation and advocacy. From the Appalachian Mountains to the Outer Banks, the Roanoke Colony to the first public university, the revolutionaries of Mecklenburg and Halifax counties to the civil rights protesters of Greensboro, and even the Wright Brothers to Pepsi Cola, there’s so much of our history which is inspirational and innovative.
We deserve a flag that encapsulates all of these landmarks, one that lets us know where we’ve come from as a state and that we can get there ourselves. The state motto of North Carolina is “esse quam videri,” or “to be rather than to seem.” What we need is a flag that will be a symbol for our state rather than to seem like a symbol for our state.