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Red, Black, And Green: The Symbolism Of The Pan-African Flag
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The Pan-African flag has appeared at the center of some of the most painful moments in American history.
In 2014, an unarmed black teenager Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, protesters waved the Pan-African flag as they marched through the streets.
GPB's Leah Fleming interviews Georgia State professor Akinyele Umoja
The Pan African flag was born out of the racism of the 1920s. The flag's creation was inspired by a racist minstrel show song from 1900 called "Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon."
Students from the Kilombo Academic and Cultural Institute in Decatur singing "Raise The Red, The Black, And The Green," a song about the Pan-African Flag @TaylorGantt2112 @LeahRadio @MorningEdition pic.twitter.com/ZbtDDeE5M4— GPB News (@gpbnews) January 23, 2019
Marcus Garvey, who was the leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, would go on to create the flag as a symbol for black people around the world.
Akinyele Umoja, who chairs the department of African American Studies at Georgia State University, spoke with GPB's Leah Fleming as part of our series on the power of a flag in the American experience.
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