I look a lot like the Virgin Mary here

Michael Frisch, that professor that quizzed his students, said that I am one of the most famous American women because of my "association with our most inclusive symbols of national identity," the flag. If George Washington is the father of the country, Fisch says that "surely Betsy Ross exists symbolically as the mother, who gives birth to our collective symbol."  Then he goes on to make a fascinating comparison.  He says that in this image, I "occupy the position of  the Virgin Mary in the Christian story."  As in the biblical story of Mary, an ordinary woman "is visited by a distant god, and commanded to be the vehicle, through their collaboration, of a divine creation."  George Washington, the father of the country, asks me if I will make the nation's flag, to his design, and then I promptly "bring forth—from my lap!—the flag, the nation itself."  Fisch mentions the ray of light flooding me from behind in this image, just like religious images of the Virgin Mary.  He mentions the similarities between Washington as father and the Holy Father, and my similarities with Mary as a lowly woman, called on by higher powers, to produce something of great value.  Here's Frisch's entire article, in case you are interested:   http://www.common-place.org/vol-08/no-01/ulrich/

I DO look like Virgin Mary, with the light flooding me in the background and my hands outstretched.  Except for my clothes, which place me in another time, there are some similarities.  I produce the flag in my hands; I cradle it, like she is cradling the absent baby.