I pledge allegiance, to the flag . . . I heard those strange words for the first time at Riverside Elementary School in 1976, as a First Grader who had just moved to the United States with my family. I learned quickly how to say the words, but it took me much longer to learn what they mean. Like Jefferson, Franklin, and Washington, I was born English but chose to become an American. I took US history in middle and high school, got a degree in history, and later taught American history to 8th and 11th graders. But though I...