Benny Benson

In this episode of "Island Interviews," Historian Dr. Michael Livingston, who recently wrote a paper about Benson, discusses the state flag contest and some challenges Benson faced while competing. He also shares how Benson's Unangax̂ heritage might have influenced his design for the state flag and that some say the design originated in Unalaska.

The Museum of the Aleutians is sponsoring a contest in which Alaska students can win cash prizes for answering questions about Benny Benson, the Unangax̂ teenager who created Alaska’s state flag in 1927.

Historians announced Thursday that they’ve uncovered evidence that key details about the teenager who designed Alaska’s state flag have been wrong for more than a century.Benny Benson, a Seward boarding school resident, won the state’s flag design contest in 1927. But he was a year older than previously thought, according to Michael iqyax̂ Livingston, who works for the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association’s community health services.“I've been working for several years with several other family tree researchers focused on Benny Benson's cultural heritage,” Livingston said. “And in the process of that research, we found what we believe were errors in his date of birth and his mother's maiden name.”

On July 9, Alaska celebrated its state Flag Day. In 1959, Alaska was the second-to-last state to join the Union, and while the territory of Alaska didn't…