Created by Marcus Garvey in 1920, the Pan-African flag is understood to be the primary flag for Black Americans. The Jamaican political activist and founding father of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League created the flag to combat racism.

It was in response to a success song called “Every Race Has a Flag however the Coon,” which mocked and stereotyped African Americans. In 1927, Negro World published a 1921 speech from Garvey, stating, “Show me the race or the nation and not using a flag, and I’ll show you a race of individuals with none pride. Aye! In song and mimicry, they’ve said, ‘Every race has a flag however the coon.’ How true! Aye! But that was said of us 4 years ago. They will’t say it now.”

In 1921, the UNIA published the meaning of the flags colours: red is the colour of the blood which men must shed for his or her redemption and liberty; black is the colour of the noble and distinguished race to which we belong; green is the colour of the luxuriant vegetation of our Motherland. Now, the Pan-African flag extends beyond the Black American experience as the colours would seem in newly liberated nations like Saint Kitts and Nevis, Kenya, South Sudan, Libya, Angola, Biafra, and Malawi.

In 1966, comrades Huey Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in Oakland, California. That very same 12 months, Newton and Seale met Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) leader Stokely Carmichael, who championed the decision for “Black Power” at a conference. On the time, Carmichael was promoting the armed organizing efforts of the Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO). The LCFO’s logo was black panther. In keeping with Red Wedge magazine, Lowndes County had extremely conservative right-wing politics fueled by white racists. Attributable to high illiteracy rates, the white racists of Lowndes were in a position to go to court to get an emblem of a rooster placed on the ballot so illiterate whites would know learn how to vote without even with the ability to read or write. Black people within the town did the identical thing; they selected a neighborhood varsity mascot of a black panther. Newton and Seale adopted the black panther from Carmichael. Nonetheless, the panther from Lowndes was too fat for the duo. Newton and Seale asked one among their early recruits, a student-artist, Emory Douglas to redraw the Panther symbol smaller to reflect that the party was about serving the underserved and undernourished.

Melvin Charles and Gleason T. Jackson designed the Black American Heritage Flag in Newark, Latest Jersey. The inspiration was purely birthed out of a scarcity of representation during parades as a toddler and never identifying with the American flag. Charles told PBS, that the gold blunted sword invokes pride and the fig wreath symbolizes peace, prosperity, and everlasting life. Following the UNIA, the red represents the bloodshed of Black people, and the black represented the pride in black pigmentation.

With the help of illustrator Lisa Jeanna, the Juneteenth flag was created in 1977 by activist Ben Haith, founding father of the National Juneteenth Celebration foundation. The red, white, and blue color scheme is a direct homage to each the American flag and the Texas (Lone Star State) flag. Split between a blue and a red stripe, the 2 colours are meant to copy a horizon. Blue above and the red is symbolic of the washing away of the bottom soaked with blood; the blood which was shed by the African American slaves for the US. The white five-pointed star inside a 12-point star, represents a nova, to symbolize the birth of a recent star. The brand new star symbolizes a recent starting for the newly freed African Americans.

The flag was updated in 2007 by Haith to incorporate the date, June 19, 1865, marking the last of the enslaved to be freed.

Little could be found about this flag. Nonetheless, it did appear in Louis Cameron’s “The African American Flag Project.” The 2009 exhibit was a set of paintings of African American flags with the aim to explore the dialogue of symbolic representation inside the African American community. In keeping with an internet archival catalogue, the 13 stripes flag was developed in 1989 in South Central L.A. It’s believed to be a non-public enterprise. One could argue that the 13 stripes represent either the unique colonies of America, or the thirteenth amendment which abolished slavery. Like other flags, the red, black, and greens colours mirror Garvey’s Pan-African ideology. The yellow or gold stripes might represent the richness of Black people, or the gold from African mines.

David Hammons African American flag was first created for the art exhibition “Black USA” at an Amsterdam museum in 1990. The flag is precisely what one would consider for the Black version of the American flag. Smithsonian magazine reported Hammons explaining the flag: “Marcus Garvey designed the African American flag, which looked just like the Italian flag except that it’s red, black, and green. Nevertheless it is so abstract, so pure, that the masses were frightened by it. I made my flag because I felt that they needed one just like the U.S. flag but with black stars as a substitute of white ones.”

Hammons seamlessly captures the double consciousness of the Black identity inside an American experience. His rendition of the American flag caused great controversy. Just the 12 months prior, Congress passed the Flag Protection Act, authorizing penalties to those who desecrated the flag. But, by 1990, the Supreme Court ruled that the Flag Protection Act was unconstitutional, because it violated free speech rights.

David and Tonya Harvey created a flag in 1991 to represent the African-American population as an entire, but not connected to any political movement. The concept sparked during a banquet while attendees sang the Negro National Anthem. The couple noticed everyone’s eyes were adverted in all places because there was a scarcity of a focus. They developed the African-American Flag.

The red, white, and blue, stripes at the highest and bottom border, represents African-American’s contributions to America. While Black people’s history on American soil is traumatic, there’s an undeniable connection to this country. There are green, yellow, and black stripes on the side borders, the abundant life in Africa; the riches of Africa; and after all, the regality of African skin. The purple base of the flag represents the regal history of African-Americans. The eight-pointed black star in the middle of the flag represents the eight letters within the word Africans—which is an acronym: Aspirations, Family, Righteousness, Individuality, Community, Ability, Nobility, and Scholarship. Outside of the black eight-pointed star, are 4 yellow diamond shapes, meant to symbolize flashes of sunshine, for perseverance, love, knowledge, and spirituality. Harvey’s widow told Morgan Magazine in 2002, “He wanted the flag to assist pull African Americans together…and to remind us that every one among us can succeed and do well.”

In the identical vein of reappropriating negativity to reclaim power, in 1993, a Charleston, South Carolina clothing company, called NuSouth Apparel remixed the confederate flag. Founders Angel Quintero and Sherman Evans plotted a marketing scheme for a neighborhood hip-hop group, DaPhlayva, to push Southern rap identity to the forefront amidst the brewing coastal beef between the East and the West. Very like Hammons’ African-American flag, the NuSouth flag pulled from Garvey’s Pan-African color scheme. The NuSouth presented three different variations of the confederate flag, one with a red background, one other in black, and a 3rd with green. Each of which also alternated the colours for the celebrities and bars. Controversy propelled the brand forward when a teenaged Black girl was suspended for wearing a NuSouth shirt to high school. The principal said it was the improper colours.

The flag quickly became an emblem of rebel within the ’90s—it could be seen in footage from the Million Man March on Washington, D.C. The duo even went so far as proposing that the South Carolina State House replace the Confederate flag with the NuSouth flag. The NuSouth brand went under in 2003. Nonetheless, the 2 can still be found curating the brand’s history on social media. In 2020, Evans addressed the usage of polarizing imagery stating, “There may be a number of fear in something that’s so liberating and free… People say they need freedom but what does that seem like?”

The African American Flag House created their flag between 1993 and 1994 in Charleston, South Carolina. In keeping with the archived website, the Foundation hoped that the flag would turn into “a positive and unifying symbol that will represents the big historical investment of African Americans.”

The First Star pronounces that every one humankind was born out of the womb of Africa. The Second Star informs that the African gave rise to the primary civilizations and kingdoms of the world. The Third Star depicts the cruel abduction of Africans from their original roots. The Fourth Star vows that African Americans will always remember the holocaust of the Middle passage and the tens of millions of Africans who suffered and died in the course of the journey. The Fifth Star recalls the unholy bondage of African Americans prior to the abolishment of slavery in America. The Sixth Star praises all those African Americans who defied and rebelled against injustice and genocide in America. The Seventh Star is a memorial to African Americans who’ve silently or aggressively defended and preserved the Structure of the US of America. The Eighth Star recognizes the strength of the African American family and its inner spiritual belief in universal brotherhood. The Ninth Star is a testament to the strength and tenacity of African Americans to emerge victorious despite any adversity or challenge. The Tenth Star honors African Americans for his or her accomplishments in making the American dream a reality. The Eleventh Star calls for African Americans to probe their history and to have fun their culture and heritage. The Twelfth Star signifies the achievements of African Americans through exertions, scholarship, and determination. The Thirteenth Star is the symbol of Pan African unity. The Fourteenth Star leads African Americans into the long run with honor, truth, and the dream of a greater tomorrow.

The Green Stripes remind us of our living earth and the roots of all humanity buried deep in African soil. The Yellow Stripes symbolize the moral excellence and spiritual wealth of African Americans as they interact with all diverse cultures of America. The Black Stripes underscore African American families and their significant economic, spiritual, social, and political contributions to America. The White Stripes warn African Americans to be always vigilant of forces that decision for death of freedom and the give up of rights guaranteed to all by the Structure of the US of America. The Blue Stripes illustrate lofty skies that may all the time extend a bridge between African Americans and Africa. The Red Stripes tell of the passionate and soulful fire inside the hearts of African Americans and that their blood shed in defense of freedom shall not be in vain.

In 1999, the “African American Flag of Inclusion” was designed by Cecil W. Lee, a Latest York-based painter, photographer, and digital artist. He presented it at a one-man art show at Gallery X in Harlem. Lee’s rendition of the flag is a fusion of the American flag and Garvey’s Pan-African flag. By replacing the highest seven stripes of the US national flag with the Black Liberation flag pattern, Lee intended to represent “all African Americans no matter their individual beliefs or political affiliations.” Per Lee’s website, he suggests, the weather of the African American Flag of Inclusion stand for: red is for all times/blood, family, vitality & oneness, black is for the people, strength, depth, and influence. Green, represents earth, evolution, growth, and progress, while the celebrities and stripes represent equality and unification.

This flag dates to as early as 2003. Proposed because the flag for African Americans or Black Americans population. The bottom of the flag is Black, meant to symbolize two facets of the Black identity: the backbone of the history in America, rooted in slavery and unity toward social change. The lone white star in the highest left corner is the North Star. While the North Star navigated our enslaved ancestors out of slavery, it could also guide Black Americans toward a greater future.

Popularized online by controversial media personality, Tariq Nasheed, Foundational Black Americans are descendants of Black slaves who built the US from the underside. The movement is taken into account divisive for it’s anti-Pan-African sentiments. In keeping with the web site, FBAs consider that the origins and history of Black people in America didn’t begin at first the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade within the early 1600s. As an alternative, they propose that FBAs settled in North America in 1526, once they were allegedly brought over from the Caribbean by a “colonizer” named Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón.

FBAs have two flags. The primary of which is a maroon flag with a gold emblem of two axes and a torch underneath five gold stars. The maroon color is a nod to the Maroon Africans, or Africans in American who formed settlements away from slavery—they are sometimes mixed with Indigenous people. The torch and axes represent the weapons used to fight for freedom. The five stars represent the states where many maroon societies were established: Virginia, North/South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana.

The second flag, possess the American color scheme, a nod to Grace Wisher, the free African American woman, who was indentured as a toddler to the famous Star-Spangled Banner flag seamstress, Mary Pickersgill. The three white stars represent the three ethnic groups that make up Foundational Black Americans: Black aboriginal people of North America, Black explorers and traders who explored the Americas before Columbus, and the captives delivered to the Western Hemisphere from Africa. The middle is the Black power fist from the Sixties. The red and blue olive branches represent the unity amongst Black aboriginals and Black enslaved people. The nine red pillars symbolize the numerous slave rebellions, one among which is often hidden, hence why one among the red bars is behind the fist.