Juneteenth Flag: It’s Meaning and Symbolic Importance
Source: Dallas News
What comes to mind when you hear the words “red white and blue?”
I would assume the American flag. However there is another flag with the same exact colors and that is the Juneteenth Flag.
The banner with its bold star in the middle is a representation of the end of slavery in the United States.
Activist Ben Haith, founder of the National Juneteenth Celebration Foundation, created the flag in 1997 with the help of collaborators, and Boston-based illustrator Lisa Jeanne Graf.
The flag was later revised in 2000 into the version we know today, according to the National Juneteenth Observation Foundation. Seven years later, the date “June 19, 1865,” was added, memorializing the day Union Army Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and told enslaved African Americans of their emancipation.
Communities around the country have held flags in ceremonies on Juneteenth in celebration of their freedom, for two decades now.
According to Haith “This country has so many aspects to it that are spiritual, and I believe this flag is of that nature. It (the idea for the design) just came through me.”
Now that we’ve discussed the flag and it’s symbolic importance let’s break down what each element of the flag represents.
Source: CNN
The star
Represents Texas, the Lone Star State. It was in Galveston in 1865, where Union soldiers informed enslaved African Americans, that under the Emancipation Proclamation, they were free. It also represents the freedom of African Americans in all 50 states.
Source: CNN
The burst
The bursting outline around the star is inspired by a nova, a term that also means a new star. On the Juneteenth flag, this represents a new beginning for the African Americans of Galveston and throughout the land.
Source: KSL News Radio
The arc
Represents a new horizon: the opportunities and promise that lay ahead for black Americans.
Source: CBS
The colors
The red, white and blue represents the American flag, a reminder that slaves and their descendants were and are Americans.
June 19, 1865, represents the day that enslaved black people in Galveston, Texas became Americans under the law.
African Americans today are still fighting for equality and justice which takes us back to the meaning and symbols behind the flag, with Haith emphasizing that the colors symbolize the continuous commitment of people in the United States to do better and to live up to the American ideal of liberty and justice for all.
Report: Juana Norales
Instagram: @juana.n_
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