History Red - Black - Green

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. The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA) formally adopted it on August 13, 1920, in Article 39 of the Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World. During its month-long convention held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, United States. Variations of the flag can and have been used in various countries and territories in Africa and the Americas to represent Pan-Africanist ideology. Various Pan-African organizations and movements also often employ the flag's colors for their activities.
Colors and significance

The three Pan-African colors on the flag represent:

Red:: the blood that unites all people of Black African ancestry, and shed for liberation;
Black: black people whose existence as a nation, though not a nation-state, is affirmed by the existence of the flag; and
Green: the abundant natural wealth of Africa.

History

The flag was created in 1920 by the members of the UNIA in response to the enormously popular 1900 coon song "Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon," which has been cited as one of the three coon songs that "firmly established the term coon in the American vocabulary". A 1921 report appearing in the Africa Times and Orient Review, for which Marcus Garvey previously worked, quoted him regarding the importance of the flag:

Show me the race or the nation without a flag, and I will show you a race of people without any pride. Aye! In song and mimicry, they have said, "Every race has a flag but the coon." How true! Aye! But that was said of us four years ago. They can't say it now...

Alternatively, it has been explained by journalist Charles Mowbray White that Garvey proposed the colors for the following reasons: "Garvey said red because of sympathy for the 'Reds of the world', and the Green their sympathy for the Irish in their fight for freedom, and the Black- [for] the Negro."[

The flag later became an African nationalist symbol for the worldwide liberation of people of African origin. As an emblem of Black pride, the flag became popular during the Black Liberation movement of the 1960s. In 1971, the school board of Newark, New Jersey, passed a resolution permitting the flag to be raised in public school classrooms. Four of the board's nine members were not present at the time, and the resolution was introduced by the board's teen member, a mayoral appointee. Fierce controversy ensued, including a court order that the board show cause why they should not be forced to rescind the resolution, and at least two state legislative proposals to ban ethnic or national flags in public classrooms other than the official U.S. flag.

In the United States, the flag is presently widely available through flag shops or ethnic specialty stores. It is commonly seen at parades commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, civil rights rallies, and other special events.
Alternative names

The flag goes by several other names with varying degrees of popularity:

the UNIA flag, after its originators;
the Marcus Garvey flag;
the Universal African flag;
the International African flag;
the Black Liberation flag;
the Pan-African flag;
the Black Nationalist, African Nationalist, or the New Afrikan Liberation flag.

Although other designs are also considered to be International African flags or Pan-African flags, the horizontal stripes of red, black, and green, originated by the UNIA in 1920, is the design most often referenced.

Pledge to the Red, Black, & Green

I commit my Body, Mind, and Spirit
To the protection, defense, and security
of the RED, BLACK, and GREEN
I Dedicate my Life
to the Redemption of Mother Africa
And the Liberation of her scattered Black Children.
I Accept For Myself and my descendants
the Teachings of Universal African Nationalism
And Promise that our children will be instilled
with the Purpose and knowledge
Of themselves as African people
In order that the cause of our struggle
will neither falter nor fail
Until all Black People are Free and United
Through One God, One Aim, One Destiny