By Jessica Ann Mitchell Aiwuyor
Executive Director, National Black Cultural Information Trust, Inc.
Juneteenth has been celebrated by African Americans in Galveston, Texas, since 1866 and became a federal holiday on June 17, 2021. Ever since Juneteenth became a federal holiday under President Joseph R. Biden, the nation has been engaged in ongoing discussion about how best to commemorate this Black Texan tradition of celebrating the freedom and liberation of formerly enslaved African Americans.
One popular discussion centers around the official Juneteenth flag, colors, and representation. The colors of Juneteenth, in particular, have become a point of contention and confusion for many. Some people view the colors of Juneteenth as solely red, white, and blue, derived from the American flag, and later, the Juneteenth flag was created by Black Bostonian Ben Haith (also known as Boston Ben) in 1997. Haith used these colors as a reminder and recognition that formerly enslaved African Americans are American. Other Juneteenth celebrants incorporate yellow along with red, black, and green in Juneteenth festivities derived from the Pan African Flag created by Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). The UNIA and red, black, and green were embraced widely by African American communities. Red is for the blood of Africans and African descendants. Green is for the land, notably representing the continent of Africa as the origin of our ancestors, and Black is for our race/skin. The UNIA had over 700 chapters in 38 states in America.
Additionally, red, black, and green, along with yellow, were used during the Black Power Movement in the 1960s and by the Republic of New Afrika (founded in 1968), a U.S.-based Black nationalist organization that advocated for African Americans to have their own sovereignty and nation in Southern states. Thus, the RBG colors have been cherished and utilized in African American freedom celebrations since the 1920s, over 70 years before the creation of the official Juneteenth flag, using the colors red, white, and blue.
The gaps in understanding this history have led to contention around the continued incorporation of red, black, and green in Juneteenth events. However, red, black, and green are historically relevant to Juneteenth and other Black liberation celebrations.
Due to chattel slavery and centuries of systemic racism experienced in America, there has been an ongoing internal conflict within the African American community on whether or not to embrace American symbolism. This criticism includes rejections of the American flag and its colors. In light of this, some organizers of Juneteenth events often included both the Pan-African flag and now the Juneteenth flag. Red, black, and green are also the colors of the Republic of New Afrika flag, representing African American sovereignty and nationhood. Their colors are green, red, and black – an inverted version of the red, black, and green Pan African flag (also known as the Black Liberation flag).
(Image caption: Round button featuring green, red, and black horizontal stripes, the design used in the flag of the Republic of New Afrika (RNA). Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture)
One key color that unites all traditions is red. Red is featured in the Juneteenth flag, the Black American Heritage flag, the Pan-African flag, and the Republic of New Afrika flag. For Juneteenth, red represents the blood of enslaved ancestors and the cost of freedom. This symbolism is embedded within Black southern food traditions. For example, Red foods and drinks are staples of Juneteenth celebrations.
Scholars trace this tradition to West African spiritual practices, where red symbolizes power and reverence. According to food historian Dr. Jessica B. Harris, Juneteenth’s red drinks have roots in West African traditions that were carried across the Atlantic. This historical continuity is significant and should remain centered in discussions concerning the origins of African American culture, symbolism, and representation.
So, what colors should we use during Juneteenth celebrations? Should they be red, white, and blue, or red, black, and green?
These questions are a lot more complex than they seem, but the short answer is all of them.
Both color combinations are utilized in Juneteenth Celebrations in Galveston, Texas, and nationwide.
(Image description: Screenshot from 2021 Good Morning America coverage of Juneteenth parade in Galveston, TX showing float with African prints, red, black, green, and yellow Juneteenth design featuring broken chains and Africa, along with the red, white, and blue Juneteenth flag. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYrTA7TXDGI)
(Image description: Screenshot from 2021 Good Morning America coverage of Juneteenth parade in Galveston, TX showing Juneteenth parade car with red, black, green, and yellow balloons. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYrTA7TXDGI)
Notably, the colors red, black, green, and yellow are often worn on an article of clothing during Juneteenth or included in celebratory decorations along with various West African designs (associated with the African heritage of formerly enslaved African Americans). Many celebrants include red, black, and green on t-shirts, skirts, bags, and other clothing items. This indicates a personal closeness to the colors red, black, and green as ongoing symbols of freedom often along with the inclusion of red, white, and blue to indicate place and recognition of American citizenship and or promised rights. Even Opal Lee, known as the “grandmother of Juneteenth” for her consistent advocacy to make Juneteenth a federal holiday, wears both color combinations. In 2023, Lee was featured in JCPenny’s The Hope & Wonder Juneteenth Collection, wearing red, black, green, and yellow for the Juneteenth campaign.
The Association for the Study of African American Life and History, founded by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the creator of Negro History Week that later became Black History Month, chimed in on the issue on June 19, 2024. Explaining the historical use of both red, white, and blue and red, black, and green during Juneteenth, ASALH stated:
“Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, tracing its origins to President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, which initially freed enslaved people in Confederate states. However, it wasn’t until June 19, 1865, when Union Major General Gordon Granger announced in Galveston, Texas, that all enslaved people were free, marking the official end of slavery. This date became known as Juneteenth, and celebrations began the following year to honor this pivotal moment in American history and African American culture. Despite its profound significance, Juneteenth was only established as a federal holiday on June 17, 2021, under President Joe Biden’s Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, marking a historic recognition of freedom and African American heritage in the United States.
Laquan Austion, founder and CEO of The Juneteenth Foundation, stated in an interview with Black Enterprise that,” There are two flags which most folks know: red, white and blue, designed to take after the traditional American flag,” and “the traditional Pan-African flag, which is red, black, and green. The community wanted to make sure we were tapping into our African ancestral roots and the importance of red, representing blood; black, representing soil; and green, representing prosperity of our native roots in Africa.”
Austion also stated, “I encourage folks to use both flags. They both have significant prominence in communities,” he said. “The Pan-African flag obviously has a lot of historical roots to Africa, and the red, white, and blue flag that takes after the American flag is also really significant as well, because folks were brought here and freed here in our nation to pursue their American dream.”
In an interview with Saleen Martin of USA Today, Tim Goler, an assistant professor of sociology and urban affairs at Norfolk State University and research director at the Center for African American Public Policy, chimed in on the topic. In the article titled, “What does the Juneteenth flag look like? Can it be celebrated with July 4th? It’s complicated,” Dr. Goler goes into detail about why he and other Black Americans feel that the Black Liberation flag is more appropriate for Juneteenth than the official Juneteenth flag that features red, white, and blue. Stating that the American flag and its colors were “weaponized” against Black Americans, while the red, black, and green flag represents Black freedom.
No, I’m not an American. I’m one of the 22 million black people who are the victims of Americanism. One of the 22 million black people who are the victims of democracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy. So, I’m not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag-saluter, or a flag-waver — no, not I. I’m speaking as a victim of this American system. And I see America through the eyes of the victim. I don’t see any American dream; I see an American nightmare.”
“We, the [New Afrikan] people in America, in consequence of arriving at a knowledge of Ourselves as a people with dignity, long deprived of that knowledge; as a consequence of revolting with every decimal of Our collective and individual beings against the oppression that for 300 years has destroyed and broken and warped the bodies and minds and spirits of Our people in America, in consequence of Our raging desire to be free of this oppression, to destroy this oppression wherever it assaults mankind in the world, and in consequence of Our indistinguishable determination to go a different way, to build a new and better world, do hereby declare Ourselves forever free and independent of the jurisdiction of the United States of America and the obligations which that country’s unilateral decision to make Our ancestors and Ourselves paper-citizens placed on Us.”
These are just a few among many Black historical texts that showcase a longstanding historical conflict between various groups of African Americans and American symbolism that is often perceived as hypocritical due to America’s historical injustices towards African Americans and Black liberation movements.
However, regardless of preference, the Black historical record in America shows that both red, white, blue and red, black and green are all accurate, appropriate, and representative of Juneteenth’s spirit of freedom and liberation for African Americans. The continued convergence of colors represents the complex, intricate, and interwoven nature of African American culture and history in America.