Harvard Theatre Collection - Chanfrau as Mose, TS 939

Gang colors include clothing, accessories, or tattoos of a specific color or colors that represent an affiliation to a specific

gang A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collective ...

or gang branch.

History

England

The first recorded criminal

street gangs A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...

in England were organized in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in the early 1600s and identified and apprehended by an early form of British city police, the

Bow Street Runners The Bow Street Runners were the law enforcement officers of the Bow Street Magistrates' Court in the City of Westminster. They have been called London's first professional police force. The force originally numbered six men and was founded in ...

. Early urban gangs in London and other British cities of this period went by the names of the Muns, Mohocks, Hectors, Bawcubites, Bickers, Bugles, Blues, Bravadoes, Tittyre Tus, Tuquoques, Roysters, Scowrers, Dead Boys, Circling Boys, and Roaring Boys with each gang distinguishing its membership affiliation by using a different colored ribbon attached to their clothing.

United States

The earliest criminal street gangs in the United States were in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, from the 1820s–1860s, were politically-aligned with one of two prominent political parties, the anti-immigrant Nativist,

Know Nothing Party The Know Nothing party was a nativist political party and movement in the United States in the mid-1850s. The party was officially known as the "Native American Party" prior to 1855 and thereafter, it was simply known as the "American Party". ...

or Irish immigrant-based

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...

of the Democratic Party who wore distinctive gang colors to differentiate themselves from their allies and rivals. The most notorious and prominent of the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

gangs who could field 50–200 members per gang were the Nativist Bowery Boys,

Atlantic Guards The Atlantic Guards were a 19th-century American street gang active in New York City from the 1840s to the 1860s. It was one of the original, and among the most important gangs of the early days of the Bowery, along with the Bowery Boys, America ...

, and Plug Uglies versus the Irish American gangs of the

Dead Rabbits The Dead Rabbits was the name of an Irish American criminal street gang active in Lower Manhattan in the 1830s to 1850s. The Dead Rabbits were so named after a dead rabbit was thrown into the center of the room during a gang meeting, prompting s ...

Roach Guards The Roach Guards were an Irish criminal gang in Five Points neighborhood of New York City the early 19th century. The gang was originally formed to protect New York liquor merchants in Five Points and soon began committing robbery and murder. Th ...

, and

Shirt Tails The Shirt Tails were a mid-19th-century street gang based in the Five Points slum in Manhattan, New York, United States, who wore their shirts on the outside of their pants as 19th-century Chinese laborers would dress as a form of insignia an ...

. The Roach Guards wore a blue stripe on their trousers and the Atlantic Guards and Dead Rabbits wore a red trouser stripe. The Bowery Boys wore neckerchiefs, red shirts, tall stove pipe hats, long, black,

frock coat A frock coat is a formal men's coat characterised by a knee-length skirt cut all around the base just above the knee, popular during the Victorian and Edwardian periods (1830s–1910s). It is a fitted, long-sleeved coat with a centre vent at th ...

s, and trousers tucked into high heel calf boots to identify them with their

New York City Fire Department The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services, ...

volunteer fire company origins and Nativist affiliations.Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, ''Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898'' Oxford University Press, 1998 p. 753

Types of colors

Bandanas

The most recognizable form of gang affiliation is based on color. Bandanas come in a wide range of colors and can be paired with other pieces of clothing to represent all colors of the gang. Not only are bandanas an easy way to show gang affiliation they are also easy to remove if the situation calls for it (i.e. if confronted by law enforcement). Gang members are known for wearing bandanas around their face as a mask, or in their pocket, with it sticking out.

Jerseys

Jerseys are common in the gang world for brandishing the colors of a member's gang. They represent the gang's city or region, contain multiple colors and often display specific numbers or words.

Today

Legal ramifications

The prevalence of gang colors has declined in popularity over the past few years. In order to crack down on gang related crimes legislation has been passed to increase penalties for crimes committed by gangs or gang members. For example, in some states, if a gang member commits a

Class A misdemeanor A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" crime, criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punishment, punished less severely than more serious felony, felonies, but theor ...

, the highest level misdemeanor crime, then that offense is classified as a

felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that res ...

because the individual is a member of a criminal street gang.

References

Colors Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associa ...

Street fashion {{Crime-stub