According to the official
website of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African
Communities League (UNIA-ACL), the flag was developed in the 1920’s by
the UNIA and with the support of Marcus Garvey, as a response to a
racially derogatory song. The ridiculously popular 1900 coon song “Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon,”helped to solidify the term “coon” in the American vernacular.
Pan-Africanism and the Black Liberation Flag
For
years, the flag has been utilized as a symbol for the idea of
Pan-Africanism and the Pan-African Movement. Dr. Minkah Makalani, a
Black Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies describes Pan-Africanism as the following:
“Pan-Africanism represents the complexities of Black political and
intellectual thought over two hundred years. What constitutes
Pan-Africanism, what one might include in a Pan-African movement often
changes according to whether the focus is on politics, ideology,
organizations, or culture. Pan-Africanism actually reflects a range of
political views. At a basic level, it is a belief that African peoples,
both on the African continent and in the Diaspora (sic), share
not merely a common history, but a common destiny. This sense of
interconnected pasts and futures has taken many forms, especially in the
creation of political institutions.”
8 Things About The Black Liberation Flag You May Not Know
The official website of the UNIA-ACL conveys that the color red represents “the blood that unites all people of Black African ancestry, and (sic) shed
for liberation.” Furthermore, the color black is for “the [Black]
people whose existence as a nation, though not a nation-state, is
affirmed by the existence of the flag,” while the color green is for the
land and “the abundant natural wealth of Africa.”
( Deanna Lowman )
Kwanzaa and the Black Liberation Flag
Kwanzaa,
the holiday created by African Americans to observe Black cultural
heritage and values, has the same colors as those found on the Black
Liberation Flag. Azizi Powell, a blogger of Black history and culture,
writes that Kwanzaa is celebrated annually from December 26 – January 1,
and it “is represented by the colors of red, black, and green.”
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