Bellamy's pledge and the salute were adopted by schools nationwide in 1892. Over time, some schools added a hand-over-heart posture to the salute before extending arms.

11Alive's Jennifer Bellamy attended the event, getting a chance to help salute some special women over the weekend.

What constitutes a “Nazi Salute” and where did it originate?The arm-up palm-down salute actually has an innocent American precursor and controversial history in the “Bellamy salute.” If ...

The timing allowed Congress to discreetly replace the original code’s “Bellamy salute”—a stiff arm raised at a 45-degree angle—with the modern, hand-over-the-heart gesture we use today.

A gesture associated with the Nazis has a surprising history. But in Germany, there was little doubt about its meaning.

The straight-arm gesture was first popularized by the Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini. There’s no evidence of a ‘Roman salute’ in antiquity.

When Elon Musk performed a gesture that many saw as a fascist gesture, his supporters claimed it was a Roman salute. So what’s the difference?

This sculpture, The National Convention, is especially interesting because the Roman salute still has its French republican meaning – although the sculpture postdates the salute’s adoption by Italian ...

The Bellamy salute was scrapped by the US Congress in 1942 and replaced with the hand-over-heart gesture amid fears it could be mistaken for the fascist salute.

Then, the internet exploded. Was it a Nazi salute? Was it a “ Bellamy salute,” a gesture popularized at the end of the 19th century to perform during the newly drafted Pledge of Allegiance?

What is the Bellamy salute? In 1892, American Christian minister Francis Bellamy wrote the US Pledge of Allegiance to boost patriotism.