imported>Kofi: Reverted edits by Kofi (talk) to last revision by Jasmine b98

2011-05-18T11:53:57Z

Reverted edits by Kofi (talk) to last revision by Jasmine b98

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[[File:Flag of the UNIA.svg|thumb|250px|The red, black, and green flag designed by the UNIA in 1920.]]
The '''Pan-African flag''', also referred to as the '''UNIA flag''', '''Afro-American flag''' or '''Black Liberation Flag''', is a tri-color [[flag]] consisting of three equal horizontal bands colored [[red]], [[black]] and [[green]]. It was originally created as the official banner of the [[African]] Race by the members of the [[Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League]] (UNIA). The organization formally adopted it in article 39 of the Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World <ref>Wikisource contributors, "The Declaration of the Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World," Wikisource, The Free Library, [http://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=The_Declaration_of_the_Rights_of_the_Negro_Peoples_of_the_World&oldid=189864 The Declaration of the Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World] (accessed October 6, 2007).</ref> on August 13, 1920, during its month-long convention held at the [[Madison Square Garden]] in [[New York City]], [[United States]].<ref>25,000 NEGROES CONVENE :International Gathering Will Prepare Own Bill of Rights. 1920. New York Times (1857-Current file), August 2, [http://www.proquest.com/ Proquest] (Last accessed October 5, 2007)</ref><ref>Special to The Christian Science Monitor from its Eastern News Office 1920. 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. Christian Science Monitor (1908-Current file), August 17, [http://www.proquest.com/ Proquest] (accessed October 5, 2007).</ref> The flag can and has been used to represent African or African American [[unity]] or pride.

== Meaning and history ==
The three colors represent the following:
*[[red]]: the blood that unites all people of [[Africa]]n ancestry, and shed for liberation;
*[[black]]: [[Black (people)|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;

According to UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities)
*[[red]]: "color of the blood which men must shed for their redemption and liberty"
*[[black]]: black for "the color of the noble and distinguished race to which we belong," and
*[[green]]: "the luxuriant vegetation of our Motherland."

The flag was created in 1920 by the members of the UNIA in response to the enormously popular 1900 [[coon song]] "[[Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon]]",<ref>"New Flag for Afro-Americans," Africa Times and Orient Review 1 (October 1912):134; Cited in RACE FIRST: The Ideological and Organizational Struggles of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1987), p43.</ref> which has been cited as one of the three coon songs that "firmly established the term ''coon'' in the American vocabulary". A 1921 report appearing in the ''Africa Times and Orient Review'', for which [[Marcus Garvey]] previously worked, quoted him regarding the importance of the flag:

[[File:Every race has a flag but the coon.jpg|thumb|Sheet Music for "[[Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon]]"]]<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....''</blockquote>

Alternatively, it has been explained by journalist Charles Mowbray White that Garvey proposed the colours for the following reasons: "Garvey said red because of sympathy for the 'Reds of the world', and the Green their sympathy for the Irish in their fight for freedom, and the Black- [for] the Negro."<ref>''Garvey Papers'' Vol. 2, p. 603.</ref>

The flag later became an [[African nationalism|African nationalist]] symbol for the worldwide liberation of people of African origin. 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 or national flags in public classrooms other than the official U.S. flag.

In the United States, the flag is presently widely available through flag shops or ethnic specialty stores. It is commonly seen at parades commemorating [[Martin Luther King, Jr. Day]], [[civil rights]] rallies, and other special events.

The flag goes by several other names with varying degrees of popularity:
*the '''UNIA flag''', after its originators;
*the '''Marcus Garvey''' flag;
*the '''Universal African''' flag;
*the '''International African''' flag;
*the '''Black Liberation''' flag;
*the '''Pan-African''' flag;
*the '''Black Nationalist''', '''African Nationalist''', or the '''New Afrikan Liberation''' flag.

Although other designs are also considered to be International African flags or Pan-African flags, the horizontal stripes of red, black, and green, originated by the UNIA in 1920, is the design most often referenced.

== Similar flags ==
[[File:Flag of Biafra.svg|thumb|left|150px|Flag of Biafra]]
A [[Black Power]] flag is a variant of this flag with a raised, clenched fist centered over the red, black, and green stripes.

The [[Biafra]]n [[flag of Biafra|flag]] another variant of this one, with a sunburst in the center.

The [[flag of Malawi]] is very similar, changed in 2010 to reflect the pan-African flag's order of stripes.
[[File:Flag_of_Malawi.svg|thumb|left|150px|Flag of Malawi]]
The [[African National Congress]] flag is three horizontal stripes, descending black, green, and dark yellow (gold).

[[File:Flag of Kenya.svg|thumb|left|150px|Flag of Kenya]][[File:Flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis.svg|thumb|left|150px|Flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis]]The [[flag of Ethiopia and Eritrea]] is three horizontal stripes, descending green, yellow, red, with a light blue disk in the center blazoned with a yellow pentagram, with yellow single rays emanating from the angles of the pentagram and terminating before the edge of the disk. It is the oldest national flag in Africa, and the colors of its three horizontal bands are sometime referred to as the [[Pan-African colors]].

[[File:Flag of Libya (1951).svg|thumb|left|150px|Flag of the Kingdom of Libya]]
The flag of the [[Kingdom of Libya]] (1951-1969) is coincidentally similar. The large central black stripe with the crescent and star was in origin the flag of [[Senussi]] flag used in [[Cyrenaica]], while the green and red stripes represented [[Tripolitania]] and [[Fezzan]] respectively. It has continued to be used by the [[Libyan opposition]] to [[Muammar al-Gaddafi]] who deposed the former king, even by those who do not favor a restoration of the monarchy. It has seen widespread use during the [[2011 Libyan uprising]].

The [[Rastafarian|Rasta]] flag is three horizontal stripes, descending green, yellow, and red. It is derived from the [[Ethiopian flag]]/[[Eritrean flag]].

[[File:Hammons flag.jpg|right|150px|thumb|[[David Hammons]], ''African American Flag'', [[New York City|New York]].]]
[[File:African America Flag.svg|right|150px|thumb|''African American flag'' by [[David Hammons]]]]
The [[United States Postal Service]] issued a stamp in 1997 to commemorate [[Kwanzaa]] with a painting by fine 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, However, instead of the stripes descending red, black, and green, the stamp's flag transposes the top two bands and descends black, red, and green.

In 2000, 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 field is green, and the stars on the field are black.

In response to the controversy over the flying of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] [[Flags of the Confederate States of America#Naval jacks and ensigns|Southern Cross]], an African-American run company called [http://www.nusouth.com NuSouth] created a flag based on the Confederate Naval Jack, with the white stars and saltire outline replaced by green and the blue saltire made black.

The [[Flag of Kenya]] is also very similar to the red, black and green flag.

The [[Flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis]] is also similar.

The flag of [[Pakistan Peoples Party]] is also similar.

== Proposed holiday ==
June 14 is celebrated as [[Flag Day]] in the U.S. 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]].

== See also ==
*[[Vexillology]]
*[[Pan-African colours]]

== External links ==
*[http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-afro.html Afro-American flags] at Flags of the World non-commercial vexillology site

**[http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/cgi-bin/display.pl?record=146.040.000&pages=6 Sheet music] from a [[Johns Hopkins University]] website
**[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
*[http://www.africawithin.com/kwanzaa/kwanzaa_stamp.htm Kwanzaa Stamp] U.S. postage depicting similar flag, with explanatory press release
*[http://www.moma.org/education/openends/guide/overview/10hammons.html MoMA Learning] an educational exercise based on David Hammons' ''African-American Flag''
*[http://www.unia-acl.com/ UNIA official website]
*[http://www.deadprez.com/ ]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*"Black Flag," unattributed article in ''TIME'' Magazine, December 13, 1971. (re Newark school board controversy)

{{Pan-Africanism}}

[[Category:African American history|Red, Black and Green flag]]
[[Category:International flags]]
[[Category:African and Black nationalism]]
[[Category:Pan-Africanism]]
[[eo:Afrik-Usona flago]]
[[it:Colori panafricani]]
[[pt:Bandeira Pan-Africana]]
[[ru:Панафриканский флаг]]

Pan-African flag - Revision history

imported>Kofi: Reverted edits by Kofi (talk) to last revision by Jasmine b98