New Orleans's flag, adopted in 1918, features three golden fleurs-de-lis arranged in a triangle on a white field. It is the simplest municipal flag and one of the most beautiful in America.
The three fleurs-de-lis symbolize the three nations that governed New Orleans: France (1718-1763), Spain (1763-1803), and France again briefly (1803) before the Louisiana Purchase by the United States. This Creole identity – French, Spanish, African, Caribbean, American – defines the city.
Congo Square, where enslaved people were allowed to gather on Sundays, saw the birth of the African rhythms that fused with European instruments to create something entirely new. Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet – jazz was born here.
Mardi Gras, Katrina, corruption, music, Creole cuisine, above-ground cemeteries, Bourbon Street, beignets, voodoo – New Orleans is unique in America. No other city is like it. Katrina emptied the city in 2005, but it survived, as always.
The simple white flag with three golden fleurs-de-lis captures it all: French elegance, multilayered history, an identity that refuses to be purely American. It is a masterpiece of vexillological design.