Flag of Birmingham

Drawing of the Flag of Birmingham

The Flag of Birmingham was created on the occasion of Birmingham's semicentennial in 1921. It was officially adopted as the city's flag after some minor additions on August 18, 1925.

The flag was conceived and designed by Idyl King Sorsby, with the assistance of the Birmingham Jaycees, who created the prototypical flag, constructed in silk, and presented it to the city. The city, along with the Jaycees, presented a copy of the flag to the City of Birmingham, England, and received theirs in return in 1926.

Design

The interpetation of the flags design is explained by Bertha Bendell Norton in her book Birmingham's First Magic Century: Were You There?:

The white symbolizes the purity of Birmingham's women.

The red typifies the valor of Birmingham's men.

The gold hints at the mineral wealth of the Birmingham District, and also represents the "high standard of purpose and character" of our citizens.

The large red star represents the marvel of the young city

The Seal of Birmingham, inscribed with the date of founding, 1871, occupies a gold-colored "hub" in the center of the star. The hub signifies that Birmingham is considered the industrial, financial and literary hub of the South.

The star is circumscribed by a circle of 67 small golden stars, representing Alabama's 67 counties enjoying Birmingham's glory.

A radiance of alternating long and short rays outside the circle of stars depict Birmingham's fame and prosperity, and suggests that "all roads lead to Birmingham".

The North American Vexillological Society surveyed 150 cities for information on their flag designs. The resulting information was published in the 2003 book American City Flags, which provides the following specifications for the Flag of Birmingham:

Proportions (hoist to fly) are 10 units by 19 units

The vertical bars are in the proportion of 4:7:4

The red five-pointed star is inscribed within a circle of 67 small gold five-pointed stars, all pointing outwards, the circle having a diameter of 5.5 units.

The seal, black on gold, occupies a 7-toothed gear or "hub" which nearly touches the inner points of the red star. The date "1871" is broken and placed in the spaces between "* OFFICIAL SEAL *" in the upper perimeter and "BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA" in the lower perimeter. Though specified in the original design, the addition of the date to the seal as used on the flag is often omitted.

Radiating out from the circle of gold stars are 85 gold rays, forming a circle 6.5 units in diameter. The rays alternate long and short, beginning with a long ray above the top point of the red star. The longer rays are 1/8th of a unit long and the shorter ones 3/4th the length of the long ones.

Recognition

In 2004, the North American Vexillological Association conducted a survey of its 450 members and visitors to its website to identify the best- and worst-designed city flags in the United States. Birmingham's flag ranked #39 out of 150 with a median score of 4.97 on a scale of 1-10.

References

• Norton, Bertha Bendall. (1970) Birmingham's First Magic Century: Were You There?. Birmingham: Lakeshore Press. p. xi
• Purcell, John M. with James A. Croft and Rich Monahan. (2003) American City Flags: Part 1: United States. RAVEN Journal of Vexillology. North American Vexillological Association. Vol. 9/10
• North American Vexillological Society (October 2, 2004) "American City Flags Survey Results". [1] - accessed May 17, 2006