The flag of Liberia or the Liberian flag, sometimes called the Lone Star, bears a close resemblance to the flag of the United States, representing Liberia's founding by former black slaves from the United States and the Caribbean. They are both a part of the stars and stripes flag family. The Liberian flag has similar red and white stripes, as well as a blue square with a white star in the canton. It was adopted on 24 August 1847.

History

The flag of Liberia was designed and hand-stitched by a committee of seven women. The chair of the committee was Susannah Elizabeth Lewis. The other members of the committee were Matilda Newport, Rachel Johnson, Mary Hunter, Mrs. J. B. Russwurm, Colonette Teage Ellis, and Sara Draper. All of the women were born in the United States, and many of them were wives of prominent men in Liberia. Lewis was the daughter of former vice colonial agent Colston Waring, the sister of the first First Lady of the Republic,

Jane Roberts Dorothy Jane Roberts (May 8, 1929 – September 5, 1984) was an American author, poet, psychic, and spirit medium, who channeled a personality who called himself "Seth." Her publication of the Seth texts, known as the ''Seth Material'', estab ...

, and wife of John N. Lewis, one of the signers of the

Liberian Declaration of Independence The Liberian Declaration of Independence is a document adopted by the Liberian Constitutional Convention on 26 July 1847, to announce that the Commonwealth of Liberia, a colony founded and controlled by the private American Colonization Society, ...

. The flag they designed was adopted on 24 August 1847, about a month after Liberia had declared independence on 26 July 1847. The day the flag was adopted, the nation held a celebration in

Monrovia Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As th ...

. There, the flag was unfurled to the public for the first time, and Susannah Lewis gave a patriotic speech. The ceremony also featured speeches by a number of notable Liberian politicians and religious leaders, as well as entertainment in the form of band music. In the 1850s and 1860s, the ''Eusibia N. Roye'' became the first Liberian owned ship to display the flag 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 ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

ports. The vessel was owned by

Edward James Roye Edward James Roye (February 3, 1815 – February 11, 1872) served as the fifth president of Liberia from 1870 to his overthrow in 1871 and subsequent death. He had previously served as the fourth Chief Justice of Liberia from 1865 until 1868 ...

. In 1860, the Liberian flag was featured on the first known stamp to be issued by the Liberian government. On 24 October 1915, President

Daniel Edward Howard Daniel Edward Howard (4 August 1861 – 9 July 1935) was the 16th president of Liberia, serving from 1912 to 1920. Howard was elected president in 1911 and assumed office on 1 January 1912. With the outbreak of World War I, he attempted t ...

signed into law an act which proclaimed 24 August as Flag Day, a national holiday. On 22 July 1974, the

Legislature of Liberia The Legislature of Liberia is the bicameral legislature of the government of Liberia. It consists of a Senate – the upper house, and a House of Representatives – the lower house, modeled after the United States Congress. Sessions are held ...

passed an act giving authorization to the president to establish a commission to give consideration to possible changes to a number of national symbols, including the flag and

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...

. The commission was headed by McKinley Alfred Deshield Sr. The commission sought to reexamine the symbols, and remove divisive aspects of them. President

William Tolbert William Richard Tolbert Jr. (13 May 1913 – 12 April 1980) was a Liberian politician who served as the 20th president of Liberia from 1971 until 1980. Tolbert was an Americo-Liberian and trained as a civil servant before entering the House of ...

appointed 51 members to the Commission on National Unity. The commission was also called the Deshield Commission, after the man who headed it. The commission submitted their report on 24 January 1978. The report ultimately recommended no changes to the flag. The flag is seen on many ships around the world as Liberia offers registration under its flag. Shipping companies do this to avoid taxes and restrictions that other countries enforce. As the second most popular

flag of convenience Flag of convenience (FOC) is a business practice whereby a ship's owners register a merchant ship in a ship register of a country other than that of the ship's owners, and the ship flies the civil ensign of that country, called the flag state ...

(after the

flag of Panama The flag of Panama was made by María de la Ossa de Amador and was officially adopted by the "ley 48 de 1925". The Panamanian flag day is celebrated on November 4, one day after Panamanian separation from Colombia, and is one of a series of ...

), it is estimated that 1,700 foreign-owned ships fly the Liberian flag. This brings in much of the country's revenue.

Symbolism

The eleven stripes symbolize the signatories of the

and the red and white symbolize courage and moral excellence. The white star represents the first independent republic in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, above the blue square representing the African continent. The Liberian flag is modeled after and resembles the

United States flag The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the ca ...

because Liberia was founded, colonized, established, and controlled by free people of color and formerly enslaved black people from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and the Caribbean with the help and support of both the United States government and the

American Colonization Society The American Colonization Society (ACS), initially the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America until 1837, was an American organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to encourage and support the migration of freebor ...

(ACS), a private organization dedicated to the removal of free people of color from across North America. Some time after the African Americans began arriving in Liberia in 1822, they came to be identified as "

Americo-Liberians Americo-Liberian people or Congo people or Congau people in Liberian English,Cooper, Helene, ''The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood'' (United States: Simon and Schuster, 2008), p. 6 are a Liberian ethnic group of Afr ...

" in an effort to separate them from native groups and enslaved Africans rescued from illegal slaving ports and ships by the American navy.

Construction

Keep the length 110 units and width as 209 units. The canton's each side is 50 units, the circumscribed square of the 5-point star has all sides 30 units and its center is 25 units from the left and upper edge of the flag of the canton/flag.

Other flags

File:Flag of Liberian Customs.svg, Flag of the Liberian Customs Service File:Flag of the President of Liberia.svg, Standard of the President of the Republic of Liberia File:Flag of the United States (1837-1845).svg, Flag of the United States (1837–1845), with 26 stars / states was used in the first government of the Commonwealth of Liberia until Saturday, 26 April 1845 File:Flag of Liberia (1827-1847).svg, Flag of the

File:Flag of the Republic of Maryland.svg, Flag of the

Republic of Maryland The Republic of Maryland (also known variously as the Independent State of Maryland, Maryland-in-Africa, and Maryland in Liberia) was a country in West Africa that existed from 1834 to 1857, when it was merged into what is now Liberia. The area ...

from 1854 to 1857

County flags

Liberia is subdivided into 15 counties, each of which is entitled to its own flag. Each county flag bears the national flag of Liberia in the canton. The county flags are flown at regional offices and together encircling the national flag of Liberia at the Presidential Palace. The flags were introduced in 1965 by

William Tubman William Vacanarat Shadrach Tubman (29 November 1895 – 23 July 1971) was a Liberian politician. He was the 19th president of Liberia and the longest-serving president in the country's history, serving from his election in 1944 until his death ...

for the purpose of promoting the counties as meaningful entities. Their design was inspired by Liberia's quilting tradition. The flags have been the subject of widespread ridicule by members of online vexillology communities on social media platforms such as Reddit and Facebook, but vexillologist Steven A. Knowlton argues that these discussions demonstrate a lack of understanding of the political and cultural context of the flags and of the material construction of flags from textiles as opposed to digital creation. Image:Flag of Bomi County.svg, Flag of

Bomi County Bomi is a county in the northwestern portion of the West African nation of Liberia. The county was established in 1984. The county's area is . Bomi is one of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nati ...

Image:Flag of Bong County.svg, Flag of Bong County Image:Flag of Gbarpolu County.svg, Flag of

Gbarpolu County Gbarpolu is a county in the northern portion of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has six districts. Bopulu serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring . As ...

Image:Flag of Grand Bassa County.svg, Flag of

Grand Bassa County Grand Bassa is a Counties of Liberia, county in the west-central portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the Administrative division, first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has eight Distr ...

Image:Flag of Grand Cape Mount County.svg, Flag of Grand Cape Mount County Image:Flag of Grand Gedeh County.svg, Flag of

Grand Gedeh County Grand Gedeh is a county in the eastern portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that constitute the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has three districts. Zwedru (formerly Tchien) serves as the ca ...

Image:Flag of Grand Kru County.svg, Flag of

Grand Kru County Grand Kru County is a county in the southeastern portion of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has eighteen districts. Organized in 1984, its capital is Barclayville. The area o ...

Image:Flag of Lofa County.svg, Flag of

Lofa County Lofa is a county in the northernmost portion of Liberia. One of 15 counties that constitute the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has nine districts. Voinjama serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring . ...

Image:Flag of Margibi County.svg, Flag of

Margibi County Margibi is a county on the north to central coast of Liberia. One of 15 counties that constitute the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has five districts. Kakata serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring ...

Image:Flag of Maryland County.svg, Flag of

Maryland County Maryland County is a county in the southeastern portion of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has two districts. Harper serves as the capital with the area of the county mea ...

Image:Flag of Montserrado County.svg, Flag of

Montserrado County Montserrado County is a county in the northwestern portion of the West African nation of Liberia containing its national capital, Monrovia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has 17 sub ...

Image:Flag of Nimba County.svg, Flag of

Nimba County Nimba County is a county in northeastern Liberia that shares borders with the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire in the East and the Republic of Guinea in the Northwest. Its capital city is Sanniquellie and its most populous city is Ganta. With the co ...

Image:Flag of Rivercess County.svg, Flag of

Rivercess County Rivercess County is a county in the south-central portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that compose the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has six districts. Cesstos City serves as the capital ...

Image:Flag of River Gee County.svg, Flag of

River Gee County River Gee is a county in the southern portion of Liberia. One of 15 counties that constitute the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has six districts. Fish Town serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring . ...

Image:Flag of Sinoe County.svg, Flag of

Sinoe County Sinoe is one of Liberia's 15 counties and it has 17 districts. Greenville is the county's capital. As of the 2008 Census, it had a population of 104,932, making it one of the least populous counties in Liberia. Sinoe has the third-largest area o ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liberia, Flag of 1847 introductions Flags of Africa Flag Liberia–United States relations Liberia