Tonya and David Harvey of Baltimore, Maryland are credited as being the minds behind the development of the African American flag. This happened back in 1991 when both individuals were singing the Black National Anthem at the African American Banquet. They believed that the Black National Anthem needed a flag to represent its meaning.

The African American Flag is not to be confused with the black and white version of the official American flag. Although that flag too has something to do with African Americans the two are not the same. The purpose of this flag in particular is to symbolize the past, present and future values of the people of African origin in the United States of America.

The flag initially made it up on the posts on HBCU campuses followed by African American businesses, churches and other African American homes throughout the nation. This was exactly how Tonya and David Harvey had envisioned the future of the African American Flag. The flag was also given a timeless motto which was “Persevering through time”.

African American Flag Design

The African American flag is nothing like the official American flag whatsoever. It consists of a wide array of colors including red, white, black, blue, purple, green along with a gold purple bar. The colors are meant to represent that regal history of the African Americans. The star can be surrounded by flashes of gold. This is meant to represent love, knowledge, spirituality and perseverance. The flag has a purple base with a black stripe near it. This is suggestive of the closeness of the African Americans to regality. The green stripe is meant to symbolize the richness and abundance of life that is to be found in Africa. A gold stripe can be seen complimenting the green one symbolizing the actual riches of Africa.

Not ironically the African American flag also consists of a number of elements from the official American flag. The most obvious resemblance comes in the use of the official colors of red, white and blue. The use of these colors is meant to show the integral role that the African American community has played in building America and the role that it still has to play in the future. Lastly the flag also features an eight pointed black star which is one of the most visually striking elements of the flag design. This star is meant to represent the individuality of African Americans.

Although the flag has been in popular use for quite some time now there are still some charges leveled at it. Some so called die hard Americans believe that the African American flag has a sub-nationalist spirit. On the contrary it is a way for the Black American population to show their patriotism for the country that they have been a part of for so long.

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