Flag Days: Unfolding a Moment

Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag. At least, that’s what we were taught in school, and what a particularly famous painting depicts. But when historians go searching … there’s no proof to be found.

The prevailing theories based on the evidence, however, are arguably more interesting than the simplified legend that often gets repeated, revealing nuances about the creation of America’s flag.

In this episode,  “we unravel this vexillological tall tale to find out how this myth got started, and who Betsy Ross really was,” with Smithsonian’s Sidedoor podcast host and producer, Lizzie Peabody.