“Alaska’s Flag” is the state song, written by Marie Drake and set to music by Elinor Dusenbury. It describes the blue skies and gold stars of the state flag, designed by Benny Benson. The song was adopted in 1955, four years before Alaska became a state.
Alaska’s state song is titled “Alaska’s Flag,” which was originally written as a poem that recalls the imagery of the state flag design. It is unique among state songs for this close connection between two state symbols. A veteran Alaska Department of Education employee named Marie Drake wrote the poem and included it in a school district circular in 1935. A composer named Elinor Dusenbury later set the words to music, and the resulting song soon earned popularity for his descriptions of blue skies. , gold stars, and other images that are still meaningful to Alaskans.
Alaska is the largest geographic state in the United States and is known for its wilderness and history as a rich gold reserve. The state song of Alaska is reminiscent of the color blue as it appears in the surrounding lakes and ocean, as well as skies and mountain flowers. It also describes the gold of the constellations depicted on the flag, which are both the Pole Star and Ursa Major. Ursa Major is actually part of a larger stellar pattern known as Ursa Major or Ursa Major. Bears are another important symbol to many Alaska residents who consider their home state to be a wilderness frontier.
Marie Drake created the lyrics for the state song of Alaska with the idea of simplicity reflected in the design of the state flag. The flag was adopted as the winning design from a contest among Alaskan schoolchildren in 1926. A Native American student named Benny Benson was declared the winner and awarded a grant for placing the constellations against a deep blue background. The stars chosen are important in local Alaska Native folklore and also reflect the state’s unique location on the planet so that the Big Dipper and North Star are seen much more clearly than in other regions.
When Elinor Dusenbury combined the words and music for the state song, an additional verse describing the state flower was originally planned but never officially adopted. The reasons for omitting this verse are not entirely clear, but may have been related to the fact that adding it would have required changing the title from “Flag of Alaska” to a different one. Alaska’s state song was officially adopted by the territory’s legislature in 1955, four years before statehood was granted in 1959.
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