{"id":163,"date":"2025-08-17T16:48:48","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T16:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/?page_id=163"},"modified":"2025-08-23T14:58:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T14:58:26","slug":"esther-popel-flag-salute-1934","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/texts\/esther-popel-flag-salute-1934\/","title":{"rendered":"Esther Popel, \u201cFlag Salute\u201d (1934)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>INTRODUCTION<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1247\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1247\"><a href=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2022\/03\/YoungEsther.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1247 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2022\/03\/YoungEsther-198x300.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2022\/03\/YoungEsther-198x300.jpg 198w, https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2022\/03\/YoungEsther.jpg 220w\" alt=\"Portrait of Esther Popel\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1247\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Esther Popel, class of 1919 (<a href=\"https:\/\/archives.dickinson.edu\/people\/esther-popel-shaw-1896-1958\">Dickinson College Archives<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Harrisburg native\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/archives.dickinson.edu\/people\/esther-popel-shaw-1896-1958\">Esther Popel (1896-1958)<\/a>\u00a0became the first black female graduate of Dickinson College in 1919.\u00a0 She later married William Shaw and worked for most of her adult life as a teacher in Washington, DC.\u00a0 But Popel achieved her greatest national renown as poet and writer, often identified as an example of the dynamic \u201cHarlem Renaissance\u201d from the early twentieth century.\u00a0 The country\u2019s leading civil rights organization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) often published Popel\u2019s work in its magazine,\u00a0<em>The Crisis.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>The following poem, \u201cFlag Salute,\u201d actually appeared in\u00a0<em>The Crisis\u00a0<\/em>twice, once in 1934, following the lynching of a young black man in Maryland, and then again in November 1940, after the continued threat of filibuster in the US senate seemed to kill off any hopes of passage for a federal anti-lynching bill.\u00a0 \u00a0Lynching refers to extra-judicial killings, intended as punishment but not authorized by law and usually targeting racial or religious minorities. The US senate did finally pass an anti-lynching measure in 2018, but there was no House action at that time.\u00a0 However, in March 2022, the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act finally became federal law.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SOURCE FORMAT:\u00a0 Published poem (full)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>WORD COUNT:\u00a0 204 words<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wevideo.com\/embed\/#2254136762\" width=\"500\" height=\"400\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Flag Salute<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_375\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-375\"><a href=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2021\/06\/Screen-Shot-2021-06-01-at-10.47.37-AM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-375 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2021\/06\/Screen-Shot-2021-06-01-at-10.47.37-AM-240x300.png\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2021\/06\/Screen-Shot-2021-06-01-at-10.47.37-AM-240x300.png 240w, https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2021\/06\/Screen-Shot-2021-06-01-at-10.47.37-AM-819x1024.png 819w, https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2021\/06\/Screen-Shot-2021-06-01-at-10.47.37-AM-768x961.png 768w, https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2021\/06\/Screen-Shot-2021-06-01-at-10.47.37-AM.png 956w\" alt=\"Flag Salute\" width=\"240\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-375\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u201cFlag Salute\u201d in Crisis Magazine (<a href=\"https:\/\/archives.dickinson.edu\/document-descriptions\/flag-salute-esther-popel-shaw\">Dickinson College Archives<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em>\u201cI pledge allegiance to the flag\u201d\u2014<\/em><\/p>\n<p>They dragged him naked<br \/>\nThrough the muddy streets,<br \/>\nA feeble-minded black boy!<br \/>\nAnd the charge? Supposed assault<br \/>\nUpon an aged woman!<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cOf the United States of America\u201d\u2014<\/em><\/p>\n<p>One mile they dragged him<br \/>\nLike a sack of meal,<br \/>\nA rope around his neck,<br \/>\nA bloody ear<br \/>\nLeft dangling by the patriotic hand<br \/>\nOf Nordic youth! (A boy of seventeen!)<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cAnd to the Republic for which it stands\u201d\u2014<\/em><\/p>\n<p>And then they hanged his body to a tree,<br \/>\nBelow the window of the county judge<br \/>\nWhose pleadings for that battered human flesh<br \/>\nWere stifled by the brutish, raucous howls<br \/>\nOf men, and boys, and women with their babes,<br \/>\nBrought out to see the bloody spectacle<br \/>\nOf murder in the style of \u201933!<br \/>\n\u201c(Three thousand strong, they were!)<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cOne Nation, Indivisible\u201d\u2014<\/em><\/p>\n<p>To make the tale complete<br \/>\nThey built a fire\u2014<br \/>\nWhat matters that the stuff they burned<br \/>\nWas flesh\u2014and bone\u2014and hair\u2014<br \/>\nAnd reeking gasoline!<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWith Liberty\u2014and Justice\u201d\u2014<\/em><\/p>\n<p>They cut the rope in bits<br \/>\nAnd passed them out,<br \/>\nFor souvenirs, among the men and boys!<br \/>\nThe teeth no doubt, on golden chains<br \/>\nWill hang<br \/>\nAbout the favored necks of sweethearts, wives,<br \/>\nAnd daughters, mothers, sisters, babies, too!<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cFor ALL!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>CITATION:\u00a0<\/strong>Esther Popel, \u201cFlag Salute,\u201d\u00a0<em>The Crisis,\u00a0<\/em>November 1940 (orig. pub. 1934), available\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/archives.dickinson.edu\/document-descriptions\/flag-salute-esther-popel-shaw\">FULL TEXT<\/a>\u00a0via Dickinson Archives<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>DISCUSSION QUESTIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Compare and contrast how Esther Popel confronted the injustice of lynching with how Phillis Wheatley questioned the injustice of slavery.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What types of details and imagery did Popel employ in this poem to help rouse the fury of her audience?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Popel\u2019s juxtaposition of the story behind the 1933 Maryland lynching with the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance hammered home the hypocrisy of American attitudes toward race.\u00a0 What other authors in our curriculum have also pursued this type of rhetorical strategy?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>FURTHER READING<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/archives.dickinson.edu\/people\/esther-popel-shaw-1896-1958\">Esther Popel Shaw (1896-1958)<\/a>, Dickinson College Archives<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/digitalharrisburg.com\/commonwealth\/100names\/esther-popel\/\">Esther Popel<\/a>, Digital Harrisburg (Messiah University \/ Harrisburg University)<\/li>\n<li>STUDENT CLOSE READING:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle-ney\/esther-popel-shaw-flag-solute\/\">By Jordyn Ney<\/a>\u00a0(\u201923)<\/li>\n<li>STUDENT CLOSE READING:\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/close-reading-on-popel-poem\/\">By Etsub Taye<\/a>\u00a0(Summer 2021)<\/li>\n<li>STUDENT CLOSE READING:\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/close-reading-of-flag-salute\/\">By Cameron Nye<\/a>\u00a0(Summer 2022)<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/files\/2022\/07\/Handout-Flag-Salute-by-Esther-Popel-1.pdf\">Handout \u2013Flag Salute by Esther Popel<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>INTRODUCTION Esther Popel, class of 1919 (Dickinson College Archives) Harrisburg native\u00a0Esther Popel (1896-1958)\u00a0became the first black female graduate of Dickinson College in 1919.\u00a0 She later married William Shaw and worked for most of her adult life as a teacher in Washington, DC.\u00a0 But Popel achieved 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