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Black American Flag (U.S.)

Last modified: 2016-03-01 by rick wyatt
Keywords: united states | afro-american | heritage | black american |
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[Black American flag] image by Tomislav Todorovic, 1 February 2015



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Description of the flag

Black American Flag has been promoted at the website www.blackamericanflag.com since 2003 [1], as a proposal for the flag which would better represent the whole population of African Americans, or Black Americans, as they are consistently called by the flag designers [2]. It is a black flag charged with a large white star in the canton. Black color symbolizes all the hardships that Black Americans have endured in the past, as well as the hope for their unity in the efforts for creating a better future [3]. White star is said to represent the North Star, which "was used as a guide for the long journey towards freedom" [3]; this probably refers to the fact that runaway slaves were going to Canada in order to get to a free life, as well as to the migrations to the northern parts of the USA after the abolition of slavery, where the discrimination was much less pronounced. As an extrapolation of this, the North Star is also seen as the "guide into the future" [3], regarding the efforts still awaiting the intended users of the flag.

The flag ratio is 2:3 by default, although the designers allow different dimensions, which are available on request [4]. Actually, a different ratio of 4:5 is already offered for the car flags at the website [5].

Sources:
[1] Flag website at the Internet Archive - the earliest saving
[2] Flag website - History page
[3] Flag website - FAQ page
[4] Flag website - flag offer
[5] Flag website - car flag

Tomislav Todorovic, 1 February 2015