Every year on June 19th, black communities across America celebrate Juneteenth. Juneteenth is a monumental part of African American history, marking the end of slavery and is often considered America's second Independence Day and the country's oldest African American holiday.
As the Juneteenth holiday approaches, you’ll start to see various symbols of Blackness across the country.
During Juneteenth celebrations it is common to see two different flags: The Juneteenth Flag and the Pan-African Flag.
The Pan-African Flag
Now that Juneteenth is a national holiday, every year people attempt to celebrate the holiday and they make a sincere but misguided mistake: They fly the Pan-African flag.
The Pan-African flag is a bold declaration of the solidarity of the global African diaspora. It should be flown, honored, and celebrated.
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If you don’t know it by name, you probably recognize its colors.
The Pan-African flag was created by Marcus Garvey and adopted by the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in 1920.
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".
The flag later became a Black Nationalist symbol for the worldwide liberation of Black people.
Origin of the Pan-African Flag
As an emblem of Black pride, the flag became popular during the Black Liberation movement of the 1960s.
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A number of flags of nation states in Africa and the Caribbean have been inspired by the UNIA flag.
In the 1960s The Us Organization redesigned the UNIA flag also changing order and significance of the colours to: black, red and green.
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.
The red stands for the blood that binds together all Africans and that they have shed in the pursuit of liberation. Black is for the melanated skin that is so characteristic of African people. Green stands for the natural resources and wealth of the African land.
It was first designed in 1920 by Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) to be a symbol of unity for Africans across the globe.
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There’s nothing wrong with flying the Pan-African flag. Fly it year-round, if you’d like! We need global unity among the African diaspora in the face of global white supremacy.
You can even fly the Pan-African flag right alongside the Juneteenth flag.
This goes beyond mere flag etiquette. It’s about the singular chance we have while a holiday is still new to preserve and extend its meaning for future generations.
The Juneteenth Flag
But Juneteenth is also about specificity-a specific history of a specific people.
Juneteenth is a recognition of the liberation of African Americans who were enslaved as well as a celebration of African American culture and its impact on society.
The Juneteenth flag (see below) was designed by Ben Haith, an activist and founder of the National Juneteenth Celebration Foundation (NJCF).
In fact, it has a backstory that goes back to the late 1990s.
Haith, a community organizer and activist known better as “Boston Ben,” created the flag in 1997.
“I was just doing what God told me,” Haith said.
After getting his inspiration for the flag, he knew which colors and symbols he wanted in the flag - he just needed to finalize it.
Juneteenth is often associated with red, green, and black: the colors of the pan-African flag. However, those aren’t the colors of the Juneteenth flag.
The banner shares the colors of the American flag: red, white, and blue.
The Juneteenth flag was created in 1997 by Ben Haith and refined in 2000 with the help of illustrator Lisa Jeanne Graf.
The Juneteenth was initially designed by Ben Haith with the help of an illustrator, Lisa Jeanne Graf, in 1997, and revised to the current one in 2000.
According to NJOF, here's what the individual symbols depicted in the flag represent:
- The Arc: A new horizon, meaning fresh opportunities and promising futures for Black Americans
- The Star: A nod to the Lone Star State, but it also stands for the freedom of every Black American in all 50 states
- The Burst: The outline surrounding the star is meant to reflect a nova (or new star) which represents a new beginning for all
Here is a breakdown of the elements of the Juneteenth flag:
| Element | Symbolism |
|---|---|
| Colors (Red, White, Blue) | Represent that American Slaves, and their descendants were all Americans. |
| White Star (Center) | Represents Texas, the Lone Star state, where enslaved people first heard of their emancipation on June 19, 1865 in Galveston Texas. It also is emblematic of the stars representing all 50 states on the US flag. |
| Starburst Outline | A nova which, in astronomy, is a phenomenon when a star shines so brightly it looks brand new. Symbolizes new beginnings for Black people. |
| Curved Arch | A new horizon of possibilities and an expansive future. |
Haith very thoughtfully considered the Juneteenth flag's design.
The white star on the flag has more than one important meaning. It is believed to represent the North Star.
The burst around the white star is called a nova or "new star." It symbolizes a fresh start and a new beginning for enslaved people everywhere.
Behind the star and the nova is a curved arch, which represents a new horizon.
Just like the images on the flag, each of the colors also has an important meaning. The red, white, and blue flag colors tie into the American flag.
The blue color sits above the red, allowing the white star to take center stage.
The flag echoes a call for unity and recognition for this shared American story.
Graf explained the reason for the colors, “The red, white, and blue colors communicate that the American Slaves, and their descendants were all Americans.”
The deliberate use of the colors of the US flag on a symbol commemorating Black emancipation asserted that Black people are true Americans in resistance to assumptions that they are somehow un-American or less American than white people.
“For so long, our ancestors weren’t considered citizens of this country,” Haith said. “But realistically, and technically, they were citizens. They just were deprived of being recognized as citizens.
“We’re Americans of African descent,” Williams said.
The star in the middle of the flag has a dual meaning. On June 19, 1865, Black slaves in Galveston, Texas, were informed of the Emancipation Proclamation, President Abraham Lincoln’s declaration of the freedom of enslaved people.
The outline was inspired by a nova, which is an explosion in space that creates the appearance of a new star.
The bottom half of the flag is red and shaped in an arch, which has similar meaning to the white outline around the star.
“I tell young people, ‘You are free,’” he said. “You might have obstacles, you might have hurdles, but you are free.
This is why it is important to fly the Juneteenth flag and not just the Pan-African flag.
While the entire African diaspora shares a common homeland and the ongoing struggle against global white supremacy, there are particularities.
Juneteenth is about a specific aspect of United States history-emancipation from race-based chattel slavery.
The Juneteenth flag, especially with its intentional use of red, white, and blue colors to signify belonging reminds us of the distinct history of slavery, resistance, and freedom of Black people in the US.
Fly the flag that says: “Black people were never outsiders in the United States, and we are grabbing our place in a nation that has never fully offered it to us.”
