Displaying all 50 State Flags

[bidwellpark]

Hi,

I'm a teacher and I wanted to hang all of the state flags and territory flags vertically on a line from my classroom ceiling. I found a way to hang the line so that it won't droop at all but I'm wondering what is the proper way to do this and still adhere to proper flag etiquette.

1) Do the flags have to be hung in any particular order?
2) What do I do about the flags that have writing on them that need to be read horizontally? (Which way do they face?)
3) I wasn't planning on hanging the US flag in this mix since there is a wall mounted one, but technically the state flags will be higher than the US flag the way I'm planning it. Is that okay?

The last thing that I want to do is to be disrespectful to the flags of our country so any help that anyone has on this subject would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[Peter Ansoff]

Hello, Bidwellpark. Welcome!

Do the flags have to be hung in any particular order?

The most usual procedure is to hang the them from left to right, in the order that the states were admitted to the union, followed by the territories in the order that they became territories. The original 13 states go at the beginning, in the order that they ratified the Constitution. This is the way that they're displayed at Union Station in Washington DC, for example. I've also seen them in alphabetical order, and the applicable Army regulation states that this is an acceptable alternative.

What do I do about the flags that have writing on them that need to be read horizontally? (Which way do they face?)

Some of the individual states may have their own regulations, but common sense would say that they should face so that the writing reads correctly. Typically, this would mean putting the upper hoist corner to the viewer's right. The only tricky part about this is that the US flag code specifies that the upper hoist corner goes to the viewer's left, whether the flag is displayed horizontally or vertically. If, for example, the US and California flags are displayed vertically together, they need to face in opposite directions.

I wasn't planning on hanging the US flag in this mix since there is a wall mounted one, but technically the state flags will be higher than the US flag the way I'm planning it. Is that okay?

This a bit of a judgement call. The question is whether or not the average viewer would consider the wall-mounted US flag to be part of the same display as the state flags. If there's enough distance separating them, I don't think it would be a problem.

Best,

Peter Ansoff