History of our flag
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 member of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA). They formally adopted it in article 39 of the Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World on August 13, 1920, during their month long convention held in Madison Square Garden, New York City.
The flag was created in 1920 by the members of the UNIA in response to the enormously popular 1900 song, “Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon,” establishing this derogatory term in American slang. A 1921 report appearing in the Africa Times and Orient Review, for which Marcus Garvey, a community leader, previously worked, quoted him regarding the importance of the flag: “…Aye! But that was said of us four years ago. They can’t say it now…” The flag later became an African nationalist symbol for the liberation of African people everywhere. As an emblem of black pride, the flag became popular during the Black Liberation movement of the 1960s.