Black History Month: The flags of Black history and culture

The ANC flag

The African National Congress was founded in 1912, as the South African Native National Congress, a political party and Black nationalist movement. Its initial goal was to maintain voter rights for the Black communities in Cape Province, before spearheading the fight against apartheid in South Africa from the 1940s. In 1960, the ANC was banned by the South African government, and in 1964, Nelson Mandela was among the ANC leaders sentenced to life imprisonment. He served 27 years, and was unconditionally released in 1990 amid fears of a civil war. For thirty years, the ANC had operated underground and outside of South Africa. After the ban of the ANC was lifted, Nelson Mandela, who had become president of the ANC in 1991, was elected as the head of South Africa’s first multiracial government, and was inaugurated as South Africa’s first Black president on May 10th, 1994.

The ANC states that in the three bands of the tricolour flag, adopted by the party in 1925,

"the black symbolises the people of South Africa who, for generations, have fought for freedom. The green represents the land, which sustained our people for centuries and from which they were removed by colonial and apartheid governments. The gold represents the mineral and other natural wealth of South Africa, which belongs to all its people, but which has been used to benefit only a small racial minority."

The Ethiopian flag

Ethiopia is one of the only African nations which was never colonised (despite a five year occupation by Italy during the Second World War), and was the first to adopt a national flag. The only country flag on our list, the modern Ethiopian flag was inspired by the flag of the African National Congress. It has changed slightly over the years to reflect changes in the Ethiopian monarchy, but represents Ethiopian, and wider African, liberation. Other African countries have taken their cues from Ethiopia, and have been inspired by the tricolor of the Ethiopian and ANC flags when creating their own flags, post-colonisation.

The Ethiopian flag has three horizontally-striped colours, greed, yellow and red, traditionally representative of the biblical rainbow which appears in Genesis after the flood, and a yellow star on a blue disc in the centre. This central symbol has changed depending on the monarch in power, initially bearing the first initial of Emperor Menilek II in Amharic script. Since that first flag in 1897, the imperial coat of arms has appeared, as well as a socialist coat of arms, a red star, a removal of the central motif between 1991 and 1996, and now– since February 1996–the blue disc with a yellow star, representing the unity of all Ethiopian nationalities. The colours  of the central motif are blue for peace, and yellow for equality, justice and hope.

The Pan-African flag

In 1920, Marcus Garvey, Jamaican activist and the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, created the Pan-African flag, inspired by the flag of Ethiopia. As leader of the Pan-Africanism movement, which sought to unify people of African descent worldwide, Garvey responded to the realisation that

“Every race has a flag but the Black”, saying “Show me the race or the nation without a flag, and I will show you a race of people without any pride.”

The flag represents people of the African diaspora, and was popular during the Black Liberation movement of the 1960s. Variations of the flag have been used in various countries and territories in Africa and the Americas to represent Pan-Africanist ideology.

The colours of the tricolor are red, symbolising the blood which unites all people of Black African ancestry, and which was shed for liberation; black: affirming the existence of a Black nation (though not a nation-state); and green, representing the wealth of Africa.

The Black Heritage flag

The Black Heritage Flag was designed in 1967 by Melvin Charles and Gleason T. Jackson, during the civil rights movement in the USA. It’s a flag which represents the history, accomplishments, and pride of the Black community in the US, created as a way to make progress for that community. It was first unfurled on 5th March 1967, at the Newark City Hall in New Jersey.

The flag depicts diagonal red and black stripes, representing race and the blood shed for freedom and equality. On the black stripe is a golden wreath of fig leaves–native fauna of Africa–circling a blunted sword, representing the strength of Black culture and marking the contributions made by Black Americans to mathematics, art, science and medicine.

At this year’s Met Gala, Saweetie wore a dress which combined the Philippine flag and the Black Heritage flag, paying homage to her background and culture and posting “Proud of my heritage!” on her Instagram.

How many flags do you fly?

Within the African diaspora, it’s sometimes difficult to trace lineage, so these flags offer an alternative to country flags for those who might not identify with one particular country. At WorldRemit, we fly two flags (just like Saweetie), check out our other stories, and tell us your own using #IFlyTwoFlags.