When people search for a red black and green US flag, they are usually looking for the Pan-African flag—also known as the Black Liberation Flag, the Afro-American flag, or the UNIA flag. Although it is not the official national flag of the United States, this striking banner of three horizontal stripes in red, black, and green holds deep meaning for millions of Americans, particularly within Black communities. Its presence at Juneteenth celebrations, civil rights demonstrations, and cultural events across the country makes it one of the most recognizable symbols of African heritage and political solidarity in the United States today.
What Is the Red, Black, and Green Flag?
The red black and green flag consists of three equal horizontal bands: red at the top, black in the middle, and green at the bottom. In practice, unlike the Stars and Stripes, it does not represent a sovereign nation-state. Instead, it serves as an ethnic and political flag that unites people of African descent around a shared identity, history, and aspiration for freedom.
You may hear it referred to by several names. Here's the thing — the most common include the Pan-African flag, the Black Liberation Flag, the Marcus Garvey flag, and the UNIA flag. Still, all of these names point to the same origin story and the same set of values. While it is frequently seen in the United States, its message is international, resonating with Black communities in the Caribbean, Europe, South America, and across the African continent.
Origins and History: Marcus Garvey and the UNIA
The red black and green flag traces its roots to the early twentieth century and the work of Marcus Mosiah Garvey, a Jamaican political leader, journalist, and orator who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in 1914. Garvey believed that Black people needed a unifying symbol of their own—a flag that could stand alongside the flags of other nations and declare the dignity of the African race.
At the UNIA’s first international convention in New York City in August 1920, delegates adopted the Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World. During that convention, the red, black, and green flag was officially proclaimed as the flag of the African race. Garvey famously argued that every race had a flag except
Black people. That's why “Show me the race or the nation without a flag, and I will show you a race of people without any pride,” Garvey declared. The colors were chosen with deliberate symbolism: red for the blood that unites all people of African ancestry and the blood shed in the struggle for liberation; black for the people themselves; and green for the rich land of Africa and its abundant natural wealth.
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From that 1920 convention onward, the flag traveled far beyond New York City. Activists carried it alongside the Stars and Stripes to assert that Black Americans could proudly claim their African heritage while demanding full citizenship and equality in the United States. It appeared at Garvey’s rallies, in UNIA meeting halls, and later became a staple of the civil rights and Black Power movements of the 1960s and 1970s. During the Black Power era, the flag was flown at protests, worn on clothing, and displayed in community spaces as a declaration of dignity, resistance, and self-determination.
Today, the red black and green flag remains a vibrant presence in American life. It is a common sight at Juneteenth celebrations, Kwanzaa gatherings, Black History Month events, and demonstrations for racial justice. Although it holds no official status as a national flag, its widespread use reflects its enduring power as a symbol of identity, resilience, and solidarity. For many who fly it, the banner is not a rejection of the United States but an affirmation of the ongoing struggle to fulfill the nation’s founding promises of freedom and equality for all its citizens.
In the end, the red black and green flag stands as one of the most recognizable emblems of African heritage and political solidarity in the United States. Born from Marcus Garvey’s vision of Black unity and self-determination, it continues to fly at celebrations and protests alike, reminding Americans of the deep roots of Black identity and the unfinished work of achieving true liberation and justice But it adds up..
