View source for Pan-African flag

{{short description|Flag using the Pan-African colours}}
{{redirect|Red, Black and Green|the Solidarity Unit, Inc. album|Red, Black and Green (album)}}
{{Infobox flag
| Nickname = [[#Alternative names|Various other names]]
| Image = Flag of the UNIA.svg
| Image_size = 200px
| Alt = 
| Use = Africans and Afro Caribbean/Americans.
| Symbol = 
| Proportion =  
| Adoption = 13 August 1920
| Design = A horizontal [[triband (flag)|triband]] of red, black, and green.
| Designer = [[Marcus Garvey]] 
}}
{{Pan-African}}
{{African American topics sidebar}}
The '''Pan-African flag''' (also known as the '''Afro-American flag''', '''Black Liberation flag''', '''UNIA flag''', and [[#Alternative names|various other names]]) is an [[ethnic flag]] representing [[Pan-Africanism]], all peoples of [[African diaspora|African descent]], and/or [[black nationalism]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Behind the Pan-African UNIA flag |url=https://www.icaew.com/insights/diversity-and-inclusion/black-history-month/history-of-the-bhm-flag |access-date=2024-03-20 |website=www.icaew.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Pan-African Flag {{!}} Black Student Center {{!}} CSUSM |url=https://www.csusm.edu/bsc/pan-afflag.html#:~:text=Red:%20the%20blood%20that%20unites,wealth%20of%20Africa,%20the%20Motherland. |access-date=2024-03-20 |website=www.csusm.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shelby |first=Tommie |date=2003 |title=Two Conceptions of Black Nationalism: Martin Delany on the Meaning of Black Political Solidarity |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0090591703252826 |journal=Political Theory |language=en |volume=31 |issue=5 |pages=664–692 |doi=10.1177/0090591703252826 |issn=0090-5917|url-access=subscription }}</ref> A [[tri-color flag]], it consists of three equal horizontal bands of (from top down) red, black, and green.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Donnella |first1=Leah |title=On Flag Day, Remembering The Red, Black And Green |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/06/14/532667081/on-flag-day-remembering-the-red-black-and-green |access-date=June 17, 2021 |work=NPR |date=June 14, 2017}}</ref> August 17 - the birthday of [[Marcus Garvey]], is celebrated as Universal African Flag Day.

The flag was created as a response to racism against [[African Americans]] in 1920 with the help of [[Marcus Garvey]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Behind the Pan-African UNIA flag |url=https://www.icaew.com/insights/diversity-and-inclusion/black-history-month/history-of-the-bhm-flag}}</ref> 

The colours were likely influenced by the older Pan-African colors, substituting yellow for black to promote racial pride.

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 (1890)|Madison Square Garden]] in New York City.<ref>{{cite news|title=25,000 NEGROES CONVENE :International Gathering Will Prepare Own Bill of Rights|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=August 2, 1920 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|work=[[Christian Science Monitor]]|title=NEGROES ADOPT BILL OF RIGHTS: Convention Approves Plan for African Republic and Sets to Work on Preparation of Constitution of the Colored Race Negro Complaints Aggression Condemned Recognition Demanded|date=August 17, 1920 }}.</ref> Variations of the flag can and have been used in various countries and territories in the Americas to represent [[Garveyism|Garveyist]] ideologies.

==History==
[[File:Every race has a flag but the coon.jpg|thumb|Sheet music for "[[Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon]]"|alt=|left|220x220px]]
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]]".<ref>{{cite news|date=October 1912|title=New Flag for Afro-Americans|page=134|work=[[African Times and Orient Review]]|issue=1|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t8126/?sp=154}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=RACE FIRST: The Ideological and Organizational Struggles of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association|location=Westport, Conn|publisher=Greenwood Press|date=1987|page=43}}</ref> 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, [[Marcus Garvey]] was quoted as saying:<ref>{{cite news|last1=Garvey|first1=Marcus|title=Honorable Marcus Garvey, Gifted Man of Vision, Sets Out In Unanswerable Terms the Reasons Why Negroes Must Build in Africa|work=Negro World|volume=XXII|issue=6|publisher=Universal Negro Improvement Association|date=March 19, 1927}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Show me the race or the nation without a flag, and I will show you a race of people without any pride. Aye! In song and mimicry they have said, "Every race has a flag but the coon." How true! Aye! But that was said of us four years ago. They can't say it now. ...}}

The ''Universal Negro [[secular catechism|Catechism]]'', published by the UNIA in 1921, refers to the colors of the flag meaning:<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mcguire|first1=George|title=Universal Negro catechism: a course of instruction in religious and historical knowledge pertaining to the race.|date=1921|publisher=Universal Negro Improvement Association|location=New York|page=34|hdl=2027/emu.010000685445}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Red is the color of the blood which men must shed for their redemption and liberty; black is the color of the noble and distinguished race to which we belong; green is the color of the luxuriant vegetation of our Motherland.}}

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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://theunia-acl.com/index.php/history-red-black-green|title=History – Red – Black – Green|website=The Official Website of the United Negro Improvement Association and the African Communities League|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827122232/http://theunia-acl.com/index.php/history-red-black-green|archive-date=27 August 2018|access-date=13 November 2019}}</ref>

The flag later became a Black Nationalist symbol for the worldwide liberation of Black people. As an emblem of [[Black pride]], the flag became popular during the Black Liberation movement of the 1960s. In 1971, the school board of [[Newark, New Jersey]], 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 [[ethnic flag]]s and national flags (other than the U.S. flag) in public classrooms.<ref>[https://www.csusm.edu/bsc/pan-afflag.html#:~:text=Red%3A%20the%20blood%20that%20unites,wealth%20of%20Africa%2C%20the%20Motherland. Pan-African Flag | Black Student Center - CSUSM]</ref>

===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]], which is considered the longest-running [[African American]] holiday. Many in the African American community have adopted the Pan-African flag to represent Juneteenth.<ref name="Wilson">{{cite news|last=Wilson|first=Sara|date=June 16, 2021|title=Juneteenth colors and its meaning behind the federal holiday|url=https://www.wdhn.com/news/juneteenth-colors-and-its-meaning-behind-the-federal-holiday/|work=WDHN|access-date=August 16, 2021|archive-date=August 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815175510/https://www.wdhn.com/news/juneteenth-colors-and-its-meaning-behind-the-federal-holiday/|url-status=live}}</ref> The Juneteenth holiday became an official federal holiday 17 June 2021, and does have its own flag, however, created in 1997{{snd}}the [[Juneteenth flag]].<ref name="Philippe">{{cite news |last1=Philippe |first1=McKenzie Jean |title=The Juneteenth flag was created in 1997. |url=https://www.oprahdaily.com/life/a36233221/juneteenth-flag-meaning/ |access-date=27 May 2022 |publisher=Oprah}}</ref>

=== 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]] in [[Ferguson, Missouri]], a [[Howard University]] 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/Chinonyeezy/status/537279736133980160 |title=Chocahontas on Twitter: "Howard University replaced the American flag with a Black solidarity flag today. At half mast. |access-date=2015-08-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150313022654/https://twitter.com/chinonyeezy/status/537279736133980160 |archive-date=2015-03-13 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Jaschik |first=Scott |url=https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/12/01/howard-u-president-issues-statement-flag-protest |title=Howard U. President Issues Statement on Flag Protest |website=Insidehighered.com |date=2014-12-01 |access-date=2017-04-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.howard.edu/newsroom/releases/2014/20141124flagpole.html|title=Statement by President Frederick Concerning the University Flagpole|website=Howard University|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150808040052/http://www.howard.edu/newsroom/releases/2014/20141124flagpole.html|archive-date=2015-08-08|access-date=13 November 2019}}</ref>

=== 2020s usage===
In February 2023, the Pan-African flag was flown over the [[Denver Federal Center]] to commemorate [[Black History Month]], which was the first time that flag was flown over any federal building.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/black-history-flag-denver-federal-center-history/|title=Black History Flag flies over federal building for the first time in history|website=www.cbsnews.com|date=February 2023 }}</ref> In [[Martinique]], a new flag was raised which symbolises the same ties to [[Africa]].

==Derivative flags==
===Flags of nation states===
<gallery mode="packed" widths="100" heights="100">
File:Flag of Kenya.svg|[[Flag of Kenya]]
File:Flag of South Sudan.svg|[[Flag of South Sudan]]
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]] (1967–1970)
File:Proposed Flag of Angola (1996).svg|[[Flag of Angola#History of the current flag|Proposed flag for Angola]] (1996)
File:MNLA flag.svg|[[Flag of Azawad]]
File:Flag of Martinique.svg|[[Flag of Martinique]]
</gallery>
A number of flags of nation states in Africa and the Caribbean have been inspired by the UNIA flag. The [[Biafra]]n [[flag of Biafra|flag]] is another variant of the UNIA flag with a [[sunburst]] in the center. Designed by the Biafran government and first raised in 1967, the colors are directly based on Garvey's design.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Okonkwo |first=Ivan Emeka |date=June 2018 |title=POLITICAL ACTIVISM IN VISUAL EXPRESSION: IPOB AND THE BIAFRA QUESTION IN THE SOUTH EAST OF NIGERIA |url=https://journals.ezenwaohaetorc.org/index.php/IJAH/article/view/670 |journal=Igwebuike: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities |volume=4 |issue=2}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qzPyJtiaBEAC&dq=flag+of+Saint+Kitts+and+Nevis+pan-african+flag+similar+to+the+Malawi+flag&pg=PA151|title=There Was a Country: A Memoir|first=Chinua|last=Achebe|date=October 11, 2012|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9781101595985 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Gathara|first=Patrick|date=2018-08-02|title=GATHARA - BLACK, RED AND GREEN: The story behind the Kenyan flag|work=The Elephant|url=https://www.theelephant.info/features/2018/08/02/black-red-and-green-the-story-behind-the-kenyan-flag/|access-date=2020-06-29|language=en-US}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NSu5BAAAQBAJ&dq=flag+of+Saint+Kitts+and+Nevis+pan-african&pg=PA289|title=Flags of the Night Sky: When Astronomy Meets National Pride|first=André G.|last=Bordeleau|date=2013|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9781461409298 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

===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".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Karenga |first=Maulana |url=http://archive.org/details/kwanzaacelebrati00kare_0 |title=Kwanzaa: A celebrations of family, community and culture |publisher=University of Sankore Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-943412-21-4 |location=California, USA |pages=88–89}}</ref>

[[United States Postal Service]] 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]], which shares its founder, professor and activist [[Maulana Karenga]], with Kwanzaa.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Mayes |first=Keith A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QGCOAgAAQBAJ&dq=kwanzaa+flag+stamp+Synthia+Saint+James&pg=PA181 |title=Kwanzaa: Black Power and the Making of the African-American Holiday Tradition |date=2009 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-28400-8 |pages=181, 230 |language=en}}</ref>

The ''bendera'' (flag in the [[Swahili language|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.<ref name=":0" />

====Artworks====
{{main article|African-American Flag}}
In 1990, artist [[David Hammons]] created a work called ''[[African-American Flag]]'', which is held by the [[Museum of Modern Art]] 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.moma.org/collection/works/222169|title=David Hammons. African American Flag. 1990 {{!}} MoMA|website=The Museum of Modern Art|language=en|access-date=2019-10-08}}</ref>
<gallery mode="packed" widths="100px" heights="150px">
African America Flag.svg|[[David Hammons]]'s ''[[African-American Flag]]''
Hammons flag.jpg|''[[African-American Flag|African American Flag]]'' in New York city
</gallery>

==Alternative names==
{{Unreferenced section |date=March 2024}}
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 '''[[Universal Negro Improvement Association|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 [[Marcus Garvey]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/individuals/marcus-garvey | title=Marcus Garvey (August 17, 1887 - June 10, 1940) | date=22 December 2017 }}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Pan-Africanism}}
*[[Black nationalism|Black Nationalism]]
*[[Ethnic flag]]
**[[Flag of the Romani people]]
**[[Flag of the Hispanic People]]
**[[Australian Aboriginal flag]]
**[[Berber flag]]
*[[Flags of Africa]]
*[[Juneteenth flag]]
*[[Pride flag|LGBT pride flags]]
*[[Marcus Garvey]]
*[[Pan-Africanism]]
*[[Pan-African colours]]: Red, gold and green (Ethiopian)
*[[Pan-Arab colours]]: Black, white, green and red
*[[Flag of South Sudan]]
*[[Flag of Kenya]]
*[[Flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis]]
*[[Flag of Malawi]]
*[[Black American Heritage Flag]]
*[[c:Pan-African Flags|Pan-African Flags]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
*{{Cite magazine |date=December 13, 1971 |title=The Nation: Black Flag |language=en-US |volume=98 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |issue=22 |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,910142,00.html |issn=0040-781X}}

==External links==
*[http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-afro.html Afro-American flags] at [[Flags of the World (website)|Flags of the World]]
*[http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/rpbaasm.0615 Sheet music] from the [[American Memory]] website of the [[Library of Congress]]
*[http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/138.html 'Fly the Red, Black, and Green'] article proposing holiday at ''The Black World Today'', July 25, 1999
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20030429013805/http://africawithin.com/kwanzaa/kwanzaa_stamp.htm Kwanzaa Stamp] U.S. postage depicting similar flag, with explanatory press release
*[http://www.theunia-acl.com UNIA official website]

{{Pan-Africanism}}

[[Category:Flags of international organizations]]
[[Category:African and Black nationalism]]
[[Category:Pan-Africanism]]
[[Category:Flags introduced in 1920]]
[[Category:Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League]]
[[Category:African-American flags]]
[[Category:Horizontally symmetrical flags]]