Yes, that's the way Americans used to salute the flag. Until Hitler came on the scene.
And, speaking of the flag...
The boy is Anthony Quin, aged 5. His mother, Mrs. Aylene Quin of McComb, Mississippi, and her children were trying to see Governor Paul Johnson. They wanted to protest against the election of five Congressmen from districts where African Americans were not allowed to vote. Refused admittance, they sat on the steps.
The policeman struggling with Anthony is Mississippi Highway Patrolman Hughie Kohler.
As Kohler attempted to confiscate the flag, Mrs. Quin said: “Anthony, don’t let that man take your flag.”
Kohler went berserk, yanking Anthony off his feet.
In the South during the Civil Rights Movement, the U.S. flag was a potent symbol of support for racial integration (and support for federal law).
Southerners who believed in racial segregation displayed Confederate flags instead. People were pulled from their cars by policemen and beaten simply for displaying a U.S. flag on their license plates.
So the simple act of a small child carrying a U. S. flag represented defiance of Mississippi law and custom.
Zinn Education Project
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