This post provides information about the history and cultural significance for African Americans of the red, black, and green flag and of that color combination in decorations, greeting cards, and other usages. The sound file of "The Kwanzaa Song" by Teddy Pendergrass is included in this post. This post also includes a sound file of and lyrics to the 1900 song "Every Race Has A Flag But The Coon".
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-history-significance-of-pan-african.html for the related post on the history and significance of the Pan African colors of red, gold, and green (sometimes accompanied by the color black).
The content of this post is provided for historical, cultural, and educational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
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THE HISTORY & SIGNIFANCE OF THE RED, BLACK, AND GREEN FLAG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-African_flag
"The Pan-African flag — also known as the UNIA flag, Afro-American flag and Black Liberation Flag — is a tri-color flag consisting of three equal horizontal bands of (from top down) 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,[1] during its month-long convention at Madison Square Garden in New York City.[2][3] Variations of the flag can and have been used in various countries and territories in Africa and the Americas to represent Pan-Africanist ideologies. Several Pan-African organizations and movements have often employed the emblematic tri-color scheme in various contexts.
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 members of UNIA in response to the enormously popular 1900 coon song "Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon,"[4] 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 Africa Times and Orient Review, for which Marcus Garvey previously worked, quoted Garvey 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....
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TWO EXAMPLES OF THE USE OF RED BLACK AND GREEN IN AFRICAN AMERICAN CELEBRATIONS AND TO HONOR AFRICAN AMERICANS
Red, black, and green are the colors of Kwanzaa, the African American created holiday that is celebrated annually from December 26th-January 1st.
Happy Kwanzaa - Teddy Pendergrass
rapidvibrationz, Uploaded on Nov 25, 2010
R.I.P to brother Teddy Pendergrass & much thanks for creating this beautiful song. Much thanks for Dr. Maulana Karenga for organizing this tradition for the people. Happy Kwanzaa to all and have a bless and prosperous New Year. Peace
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Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/12/teddy-pendergrass-happy-kwanzaa-video.html for the lyrics to this song.
Some African Americans who celebrate both Christmas and Kwanza blend ornaments for both of those holidays, since red & green are also the colors most associated with Christmas. Furthermore, ornaments and other decorations in those colors can also be combined those with Kente cloth designed ornaments and decorations, since red, green, gold, and orange are the colors that are most commonly found in Ghanaian Kente cloth designs in the United States.
Click http://www.kentecloth.net/kente-cloth-designs-and-meanings/ for information about the meaning of certain Kente cloth colors and designs.
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The Empire State building was lit with the colors red, black, and green in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day January 20, 2014.
http://www.breakingnews.com/item/2014/01/20/photo-empire-state-building-in-new-york-lights-up/
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THE SONG WHICH WAS THE IMPETUS FOR THE CREATION OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN FLAG
"Every Race Has A Flag But The Coon" (Popular Song From 1900)
Tim Roseborough Uploaded on Jan 31, 2012
-snip-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Every_Race_Has_a_Flag_but_the_Coon
" "Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon" was a song written by Will A. Heelan, and J. Fred Helf that was popular in the United States and Britain"...
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LYRICS
(William A. Heelan and J. Fred Helf, 1900)
The leader of the Blackville Club arose last Labor night
And said, “When we were on parade today
I really felt so much ashamed, I wished I could turn white
‘Cause all the white folks march’d with banners gay
Just at de stand de German band
They waved their flag and played ‘De Wacht am Rhine’
The Scotch Brigade each man arrayed
In new plaid dresses marched to ‘Auld Lang Syne’
Even Spaniards and Sweeds, folks of all kinds and creeds
Had their banner except de coon alone
Ev’ry nation can brag ‘bout some kind of a flag
Why can’t we get an emblem of our own?”
Chorus:
For Ireland has her Harp and Shamrock
England floats her Lion bold
Even China waves a Dragon
Germany an Eagle gold
Bonny Scotland loves a Thistle
Turkey has her Crescent Moon
And what won’t Yankees do for their Red, White and Blue
Every race has a flag but the coon
He says, “Now I’ll suggest a flag that ought to win a prize
Just take a flannel shirt and paint it red
They draw a chicken on it with two poker dice for eyes
An’ have it wavin’ razors ‘round its head
To make it quaint, you’ve got to paint
A possum with a pork chop in his teeth
To give it tone, a big hambone
You sketch upon a banjo underneath
And be sure not to skip just a policy slip*
Have it marked four eleven forty four
Then them Irish and Dutch, they can’t guy us so much
We should have had this emblem long before.
Source:
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/songs/question1.html
This page also includes lyrics to the song “All Coons Look Alike to Me”
Ernest Hogan, 1896. That once popular song was composed by a Black American
*Policy slip is a reference to the illegal but once very widely practiced custom [among African Americans and other Americans of “playing the numbers” [betting on numbers]
Note that when that coon song was composed there actually were at least three flags that could have been used to represent Black Americans: the Caribbean nation of Haiti's blue and red flag which was adopted in 1806, the West African nation of Liberia's red & white strip flag which was adopted in 1847, and the East African nation of Ethiopia, whose red, green and yellow colored flag was adopted in 1897.
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Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks to those who published the YouTube sound files that are included in this post.
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