What shape appeared at the center of the official U.S. Bicentennial logo used in 1976?

The official U.S. Bicentennial logo used in 1976 featured a white five-point star at its center.

Bruce Blackburn, who also co-designed NASA's modernized insignia, created the logo for the American Revolution Bicentennial. It showed a white five-point star inside a larger stylized star made from red, white, and blue elements. The design was surrounded by the words “American Revolution Bicentennial 1776–1976.”

The symbol appeared widely on government buildings, flags, postage stamps, souvenirs, and official materials. NASA even painted it on the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in 1976. The marking remained there until 1998, when it was replaced as part of NASA's 40th-anniversary observances.

The Bicentennial was not a single festival in one city. Congress ultimately organized a decentralized program involving local events, parades, exhibitions, reenactments, and international observances. The star logo provided a common visual identity for those varied celebrations.