They Don't Say the Pledge of Allegiance in Schools Anymore, 2024
The Pledge of Allegiance has been said in public schools in this country since 1892. In between then and now there have been changes to the words, legal controversies, and much more. Also developing since has been an extreme sense of nationalism and a false narrative that not saying the pledge is un-American.
Today, many conservative-leaning Americans echo that students no longer say the Pledge of Allegiance in schools anymore, and point to it for what they describe as this country’s decline.
The pledge, however, is still in public schools in this country. Furthermore, in 1943, the United States Supreme Court ruled that forcing a student to recite the Pledge of Allegiance violated their First Amendment rights.
They Don’t Say the Pledge of Allegiance in Schools Anymore is a response to this false belief, something I’ve wrestled with within my own family. It is a 16’ x 16’ layered narrative made of eight 4’ x 8’ panels, populated with original works, the pages of historical documents, and the pages of problematic, out-of-use public school library books. Some of the content is deeply personal, some more peripheral, but all within my orbit of experience.
All but one layer covers either one or two panels. The second layer, which covers all eight panels, holds the Pledge of Allegiance.
16’ x 16’ (made of eight 4’ x 8’ panels)
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​custom 4’ x 8’ frames, 20lb poster bond paper, old newspapers, out-of-use public school library books, unprinted paychecks, wheatpaste
