The pan-African flag (also known as the Afro-American flag, Black Liberation flag, UNIA flag, and various other names) is an

ethnic flag An ethnic flag is a flag that symbolizes a certain ethnic group. Ethnic flags are often introduced to the ethnic community through the respective cultural or political ethnic movements. They are popular among diasporas, ethnic minorities, and som ...

representing

pan-Africanism Pan-Africanism is a nationalist movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous peoples of Africa, indigenous peoples and diasporas of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atla ...

, the

African diaspora The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from List of ethnic groups of Africa, people from Africa. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the native West Africa, West and Central Africans who were ...

, and/or

black nationalism Black nationalism is a nationalist movement which seeks representation for Black people as a distinct national identity, especially in racialized, colonial and postcolonial societies. Its earliest proponents saw it as a way to advocate for ...

. A tri-color flag, it consists of three equal horizontal bands of (from top down) red, black, and green. The flag was likely influenced by the older Pan-African colors, substituting yellow for black to promote racial pride. The flag was created as a response to racism against

African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...

in 1920 with the help of

Marcus Garvey Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) (commonly known a ...

. The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) formally adopted it on August 13, 1920, in Article 39 of the Declaration of the Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World, during its month-long convention at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

in New York City. Variations of the flag can and have been used in various countries and territories in the Americas to represent Garveyist ideologies.

History

The flag was created in 1920 by members of UNIA in response to the " coon song" that became a hit around 1900, titled, " Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon". This song has been cited as one of the three songs that "firmly established the term ''coon'' in the American vocabulary". In a 1927 report of a 1921 speech appearing in the '' Negro World'' weekly newspaper,

was quoted as saying: The ''Universal Negro

Catechism A catechism (; from , "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of Catholic theology, doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult co ...

'', published by the UNIA in 1921, refers to the colors of the flag meaning: According to the UNIA more recently, the three colors on the Black Nationalist flag represent: * red: the blood that unites all people of Black African ancestry, and shed for liberation; * black: black people whose existence as a nation, though not a nation-state, is affirmed by the existence of the flag; and * green: the abundant natural wealth of Africa. TexasBlackPowerFlag1A9574EE-E286-49D7-8418-190C17C207E3

TexasBlackPowerFlag1A9574EE-E286-49D7-8418-190C17C207E3

The flag later became a Black Nationalist symbol for the worldwide liberation of Black people. As an emblem of

Black pride Black pride is a movement which encourages black people to celebrate their respective cultures and embrace their African heritage. In the United States, it initially developed for African-American culture and was a direct response to white ...

, the flag became popular during the Black Liberation movement of the 1960s. In 1971, the school board of

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

, passed a resolution permitting the flag to be raised in public school classrooms. Four of the board's nine members were not present at the time, and the resolution was introduced by the board's teen member, a mayoral appointee. Fierce controversy ensued, including a court order that the board show cause why they should not be forced to rescind the resolution, and at least two state legislative proposals to ban

s and national flags (other than the U.S. flag) in public classrooms.

Juneteenth

19 June 1865, is the date in which enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, finally received the news of their freedom. This is commemorated every 19 June with

Juneteenth Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States, federal holiday in the United States. It is celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate the End of slavery in the United States, ending of slavery in the United States. The holiday's n ...

, which is considered the longest-running

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

holiday. Many in the African American community have adopted the Pan-African flag to represent Juneteenth. The Juneteenth holiday became an official federal holiday 17 June 2021, and does have its own flag, however, created in 1997the Juneteenth flag.

2010s usage

In the United States, following the refusal of a grand jury to indict a police officer in the August 9, 2014,

shooting of Michael Brown On August 9, 2014, 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Brown was accompanied by his 22-year-old male friend Dorian Johnson. Wilson, a white male Fergu ...

Ferguson, Missouri Ferguson is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. It is part of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area. Per the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 18,527, and is predominantly Bla ...

, a

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

student replaced the U.S. flag on that school's Washington, D.C., campus flagpole with a "black solidarity" flag (this tricolor) flying at half-mast.

2020s usage

In February 2023, the Pan-African flag was flown over the Denver Federal Center to commemorate

Black History Month Black History Month is an annually observed commemorative month originating in the United States, where it is also known as African-American History Month. It began as a way of remembering important people and events in the history of the Af ...

, which was the first time that flag was flown over any federal building. In

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

, a new flag was raised which symbolises the same ties to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Derivative flags

Flags of nation states

File:Flag of Kenya.svg, Flag of Kenya File:Flag of South Sudan.svg,

Flag of South Sudan The flag of South Sudan was adopted following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War. A different version of the flag was previously used as the flag of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement. T ...

File:Flag of Malawi.svg, Flag of Malawi File:Flag of Malawi (2010-2012).svg, Flag of Malawi (2010–2012) File:Flag of Biafra.svg,

Flag of Biafra The flag of Biafra, used by the Republic of Biafra during the Nigerian Civil War, Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970), consists of a horizontal Tricolour (flag), tricolour of red, black, and green, charged with a golden rising sun over a golden ba ...

(1967–1970) File:Proposed Flag of Angola (1996).svg, Proposed flag for Angola (1996) File:MNLA flag.svg, Flag of Azawad File:Flag of Martinique.svg, Flag of Martinique A number of flags of nation states in Africa and the Caribbean have been inspired by the UNIA flag. The

Biafra Biafara Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicized as Biafra ( ), officially the Republic of Biafra, was a List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, partially recognised state in West Africa that declared independence from Nigeria ...

flag A flag is a piece of textile, fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and fla ...

is another variant of the UNIA flag with a

sunburst A sunburst is a design or figure commonly used in architectural ornaments and design patterns and possibly pattern books. It consists of rays or "beams" radiating out from a central disk in the manner of sunbeams. Sometimes part of a sunbur ...

in the center. Designed by the Biafran government and first raised in 1967, the colors are directly based on Garvey's design. The flag of Malawi issued in 1964 is very similar and reflects the Black Nationalist flag's order of stripes. It is not directly based on Garvey's flag, although the colors have the same symbolism: Red for blood symbolizing the struggle of the people, green for vegetation, and black for the race of the people. The Kenyan flag (Swahili: Bendera ya Kenya) is a tricolor of black, red, and green with two white fimbriations imposed, with a Masai shield and two crossed spears. It was officially adopted on 12 December 1963 after Kenya's independence, inspired by the pan-African tricolour. The flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis has similar colors, arranged diagonally and separated by yellow lines. It similar to the Malawian flag in that the colors are not directly taken from the Pan-African flag but the symbolism is the same.

Derivative flags in the United States

The Kwanzaa Bendera

In the 1960s The Us Organization redesigned the UNIA flag also changing order and significance of the colours to: black, red and green. Defining "black" for the people, "red" for struggle, and "green" for the future built "out of struggle".

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

issued a stamp in 1997 to commemorate the African-American festival of Kwanzaa with a painting by artist Synthia Saint James of a dark-skinned family wearing garments traditional in parts of Africa and fashionable for special occasions among African-Americans. The family members are holding food, gifts, and a flag. The flag in the stamp may have been meant to represent the Pan-African flag but instead used the similar flag (a black, red, and green horizontal tricolour) of the Black nationalist organisation

Us Organization US Organization, or Organization Us, is a Black nationalist group in the United States founded in 1965. It was established as a community organization by Hakim Jamal together with Maulana Karenga. It was a rival to the Black Panther Party in C ...

, which shares its founder, professor and activist Maulana Karenga, with Kwanzaa. The ''bendera'' (flag in the Kiswahili language) was documented as an supplemental symbol of Kwanzaa, in Karenga's 1998 book ''The African American Holiday of Kwanzaa'', and included in ceremonial use during the festival.

Artworks

In 1990, artist David Hammons created a work called '' African-American Flag'', which is held by the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in New York City. Based on the standard U.S. flag, its stripes are black and red, the canton field is green, and the stars on the canton field are black. African America Flag.svg, David Hammons's '' African-American Flag'' Hammons flag.jpg, '' African American Flag'' in New York city

Alternative names

The flag goes by several other names with varying degrees of popularity: *the Afro-American flag *the Bendera Ya Taifa ( Kiswahili for "flag of the Nation"), in reference to its usage during Kwanzaa *the Black Liberation flag *the International African flag *the Marcus Garvey flag *the UNIA flag, after its originators *the Universal African flag *the Red Black Green (RBG) flag *the Black Nationalist flag

Proposed holiday

In 1999, an article appeared in the July 25 edition of '' The Black World Today'' suggesting that, as an act of global solidarity, every August 17 should be celebrated worldwide as Universal African Flag Day by flying the red, black, and green banner. August 17 is the birthday of

Notes

References

External links

Afro-American flags
at Flags of the World
Sheet music
from the American Memory website of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

'Fly the Red, Black, and Green'
article proposing holiday at ''The Black World Today'', July 25, 1999

U.S. postage depicting similar flag, with explanatory press release
UNIA official website
{{Pan-Africanism Flags of international organizations African and Black nationalism Pan-Africanism Flags introduced in 1920 Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League African-American flags