Flag of Alaska

How to read it

The flag is set by Alaska Statutes § 44.09.020: eight gold stars on a field of blue, chosen, the law says, “for its simplicity, its originality, and its symbolism”. Seven of the stars form the Dipper in Ursa Major, the Great Bear, and its two Pointers point to the eighth, Polaris, the North Star, “the ever constant star for the mariner, the explorer, hunter, trapper, prospector, woodsman, and the surveyor”; for Alaska it stands for the 49th star on the national flag. The flag of the Territory of Alaska became the state flag. The stars are natural yellow gold and the blue is the blue of the US flag. The law shows its proportions in a drawing, not in words. When the flag hangs horizontally in a public building, the hoist is on the left and the North Star in the upper right corner, and when it is folded and presented, the North Star is turned toward the person receiving it.

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A thirteen-year-old’s design

The flag was designed by Benny Benson, a seventh-grader at Seward. The Alaska Historical Society says Territorial Governor George Parks thought in 1926 that a flag would help Alaska become a state, and persuaded the Alaska American Legion to run a contest for children in grades 7 to 12. Benson, thirteen, was born in Chignik on the Alaska Peninsula and grew up at the Jesse Lee Home, an orphanage that moved from Unalaska to Seward in 1925. He wrote on his entry: “The blue field is for the Alaska sky and the forget-me-not, an Alaska flower. The North Star is for the future of the state of Alaska, the most northerly in the Union. The dipper is for the Great Bear – symbolizing strength.” The judges chose his design from 142 entries, the territorial legislature adopted it in May 1927, and it was first flown on 9 July 1927. It became the state flag at statehood in 1959. The first flag, of blue silk with hand-sewn gold stars, and Benson’s entry are in the Alaska State Museum.

The state song

The state song, by law, is “Alaska’s Flag”, with music by Elinor Dusenbury and words by Marie Drake. The Historical Society says the way Benson described his design is what inspired them to write it.