Black American Heritage Flag

The Black American Heritage Flag is an ethnic flag that represents the culture and history of Afro American people. Each color and symbol on the flag has a significant meaning that was developed to instill pride in Black Americans, and provide them with a symbol of hope for the future in the midst of their struggle for Civil Rights.

Black American Heritage Flag

BAHF
Use	Ethnic Flag
Proportion	2:3 or 3:5
Adopted	March 5, 1967 ; 57 years ago
Design	One diagonal black stripe centered between two red stripes. Superimposed on the black stripe is a blunted sword surrounded by a golden wreath of fig leaves.
Designed by	Melvin Charles, Gleason T. Jackson

Color scheme Color scheme Red Black Gold CMYK 0-86-83-29 0-0-0-100 0-28-90-6 HEX #b5191f #000000 #f0ac17 RGB 181,25,31 0,0,0 243,174,24

Design

Melvin Charles described the story behind the design of the Black American Heritage Flag and the historic event when it was raised at City Hall.

"We came up with this idea to make a flag that had diagonal stripes of red and black," he explained, "and to have a fig wreath circled in the center of it, and a blunted sword. Of course, we had to recognize that each item, we had to have some sort of explanation."

The gold-colored blunted sword represent "the feeling of having pride and also knowing, when you have a blunted sword, when you blunt it you learn to curdling the earth," he continued, "the wreath, which we also had in the color gold" symbolized peace, prosperity, and everlasting life. Red was chosen to represent the "rich blood we shed for freedom, justice, and human dignity, and the color black was for the pride in our pigmentation."

There is also a popular alternative variation of the Black American Heritage Flag that possesses the same ideas and symbolisms as the original design of the Heritage Flag that Melvin Charles and Gleason Jackson set in place. The difference between the original version of the flag and the newer design is that it's more cartoonish and has a brighter set of colors. It is unclear from where the unauthorized Heritage flag design revision originated. However, it has somehow cemented itself as a viable alternative for the original, and authorized, Heritage Flag design. On September 12, 2023, countering the newer design of the Heritage Flag, Melvin Charles's daughter has showed discontent with the new design on an Instagram post captioned:

"Please be mindful when you purchase Black American Heritage Flag products. In this 'grab and go' culture, many have not honored the original design."

Followed by images of the original design of the Heritage Flag titled: "original design!!!" and the new design of the flag titled: "not the original".

History

Melvin Charles & Gleason T. Jackson holding the flag outside of the Union County Courthouse in Elizabeth, NJ (1967)

The flag was created in 1967 by Melvin Charles and Gleason T. Jackson. The idea to create the flag came about during the civil rights era when Charles realized that every other group of people had a flag at parades except Black Americans. He saw how connected they were to their national flags, but didn't feel the same connection towards the American flag due to the negative historical and political implication that the American flag held in the minds of the Black American people. Creating a national flag was still just an idea in his mind until he pitched the idea to Gleason T. Jackson. He designed the flag alongside Jackson and they would later travel the country to visit various churches, schools, and public events to promote the flag. The inspiration for the flag came from Melvin Charles and Gleason Jackson bouncing ideas off of each other and going to the library for extra inspiration for the flags design and symbolism. The flag is said to have received some opposition from some people, but was eventually accepted and supported by the mayor, and was officially hoisted onto a flag pole at the city hall in Newark, New Jersey, on March 5, 1967. In December 1967 Charles and Jackson received acknowledgement of The Black American Heritage Flag from President Lyndon B. Johnson. The letter was signed by the Personal Secretary to the President of the United States. The Black church didn't accept the Black American heritage flag as much, but most of Charles and Gleason's success came from contacting municipalities to showcase and spread the knowledge of the existence of the Heritage flag.

Two students pose in front of Black-American Heritage flags & Pan-African Flags in honor of Black History Month 2023

Amidst the 2020 George Floyd Protests, the Black American community showcased pride for their race and culture throughout the streets of various cities in the United States. They also were extremely vocal about it on social media platforms such as Twitter/X and TikTok. The heavy usage and discussion of the Black American Heritage flag during that time eventually led to increased recognition of the flag and its colors all over the country. In August 2021, graphic designer Michael Randall (known as Mike Tré) recreated a more accurate and high-quality representation of the original flag as designed by Charles and Jackson. In September 2021, a popular half Black-American rapper named Saweetie attended the Met Gala and wore a custom Christian Cowan gown that showcased the colors of the Black American Heritage Flag alongside the colors of the Filipino flag to represent both parts of her multi-ethnic background. The flag was also seen being worn at the United States of America Ms.2022 pageant by Keerah Yeowang, who won the title. As of today, the flag can be found at parades, protests, and cultural heritage events within the Black American community. Some Black Americans see it as a symbol of their identity and culture.