Broad Stripes, Bright Stars, and White Lies

As we approach the nation's 250th birthday, we are looking back at some of the most important moments in American history. One of those moments is when Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag. But, as we discovered, there’s actually no proof that Ross sewed the first flag. In fact, we don't even know what the first American flag even looked like! In this episode of Sidedoor , we unravel this vexillological tall tale to find out how this myth got started, and who Betsy Ross really was. Sidedoor also recently teamed up with the popular 99% Invisible podcast to explore the lesser-known history of the American flag. The episode, “ Flag Days: Unfolding a Moment ,” is available to listen to now. Guests: Jennifer Locke Jones, political and military history curator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History Marc Leepson , journalist, historian and author of the book Flag: An American Biography Marla R. Miller , historian and author of Betsy Ross and the Making of America

You can listen to Broad Stripes, Bright Stars, and White Lies online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Broad Stripes, Bright Stars, and White Lies is an episode from Sidedoor by Smithsonian Institution .

This episode is 30:33 long.

This episode was published on Apr 15, 2026.

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