The Red, the Black, and the Green

Summary

Summary of "The Red, the Black, and the Green" – 99% Invisible

Podcast Information

• Title: 99% Invisible
• Host: Roman Mars
• Episode: The Red, the Black, and the Green
• Release Date: June 17, 2025
• Description: This episode delves into the history and significance of the Pan African flag, exploring its origins, symbolism, and enduring legacy within the Black community worldwide.

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Introduction to the Flag and Its Significance

Christopher Johnson opens the episode by contextualizing the significance of the colors red, black, and green in recent Black Lives Matter protests and broader cultural expressions:

"If you look at images from these marches, you'll probably start to notice a common color scheme. Lots of red, black and green." [03:09]

Moira Makumau further illustrates how these colors permeate various forms of expression, from clothing to banners, highlighting their unifying power:

"He says that wherever there are protests or demonstrations against threats to black life, the red, black and green will be there." [03:57]

Origins of the Pan African Flag

The episode traces the flag's inception back to Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican-born labor organizer and journalist, who became a pivotal figure in Black nationalism and Pan Africanism. Moira Makumau explains Garvey's transformative experiences in London:

"Garvey realized that Africa could be the center of racial pride for all of black humanity." [10:00]

Colin Grant, a historian, emphasizes Garvey’s visionary approach to nation-building:

"The idea that you had to forge a nation of your own, that you couldn't trust the man to look after yourself." [11:14]

The Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)

Upon returning to the Caribbean in 1914, Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) with the aim of uniting Black people globally. Marcus Garvey passionately articulated the mission:

"I greet you in the name of the Universal Nuclear Improvement Association, an organization that seeks to unite into one solid body the 400 million Negroes of the world for the purpose of bettering our industrial, commercial, educational, social and political conditions." [12:44]

Creation and Symbolism of the Pan African Flag

In 1918, Garvey introduced the Pan African flag, a tricolor design featuring horizontal stripes of red, black, and green. Moira Makumau breaks down the symbolism:

• Red: Represents the blood spilled in the fight to protect and defend Africa.
• Black: Symbolizes the people of the continent and the diaspora.
• Green: Stands for Africa itself, its lushness, and the motherland.

Garvey’s declaration during the UNIA convention in 1920 solidified these colors as the official representation of the Black race:

"The UNIA officially declared red, black and green the colors of the Negro race." [27:19]

The Black Star Line and Symbolism in Practice

One of Garvey's most ambitious projects was the Black Star Line, a fleet of steamships intended to facilitate trade and foster a sense of pride and autonomy among Black people. The launch of the Black Star Line became a monumental event:

"5,000 black folks showed up to watch the first Black Star Line ship leave its East Harlem port in 1919. According to at least one observer, the crowd was delirious with excitement." [24:24]

The ships prominently displayed the Pan African flag, serving as a mobile symbol of Garvey's vision for a unified and self-sufficient Black world.

Challenges and Opposition

Despite its initial success, Garvey's movement faced significant opposition. Moira Makumau details the scrutiny from both federal authorities and other Black leaders, particularly W.E.B. du Bois and the NAACP, who criticized Garvey’s methods and business practices:

"W.E.B. du Bois felt that full civil rights were the keys to black freedom in a country that was hostile to their survival and peace." [14:43]

Garvey's refusal to align with du Bois's strategies led to increased tension, culminating in legal troubles. He was eventually convicted of mail fraud and deported to Jamaica in 1927, causing the UNIA to decline sharply in the United States.

Enduring Legacy of the Pan African Flag

Despite Garvey's deportation and the eventual decline of the UNIA, the Pan African flag endured as a powerful symbol. Hakeem Adi, a professor of African and Black diaspora history, reflects on Garvey's lasting impact:

"Garvey is the standard bearer of success under duress, who was blessed to do far more with less." [26:15]

The flag continued to influence various movements and cultures:

• African Nations: Several countries incorporated the Pan African colors into their national flags during their decolonization processes.
• Black Power Movement: The 1960s and 70s saw the colors flourish within Black Power and Black consciousness movements.
• Hip Hop Culture: From the late 1980s onwards, red, black, and green became staples in hip hop fashion, symbolizing pride and unity.

Moira Makumau underscores the flag’s universal recognition and its role in fostering a sense of safety and belonging within the Black community:

"The decision to fly that flag, it feels like someone's telling me, you're in a place that's safe for black people." [32:02]

The Juneteenth Flag

Transitioning from the Pan African flag, the episode explores the Juneteenth flag, designed to commemorate the emancipation of slaves in the United States. Moira Makumau describes its design and symbolism:

"The Juneteenth flag features a central white star referencing the Lone Star State where the last of the country's enslaved population finally learned of their freedom in 1865." [30:04]

While distinct from the Pan African colors, the Juneteenth flag embodies similar themes of freedom, heritage, and pride, reinforcing the broader narrative of Black resilience and identity.

Personal Reflections on Flag Symbolism

Moira Makumau shares a personal perspective on the differing symbolism of the American flag versus the Pan African flag:

"Standing under the Stars and Stripes is at best an uneasy and insecure thing because the flag stands for lots of things, including imperialism and white supremacy." [31:43]

In contrast, the Pan African flag represents a safe and unifying symbol for Black people:

"But the red, black and green has grown way beyond the UNIA. In the decades after Garvey's death, several African countries incorporated the Pan African colors into their own national flags as they gained independence." [30:31]

Conclusion: The Enduring Power of Symbols

The episode concludes by affirming Marcus Garvey’s vision and the lasting power of the Pan African flag. Hakeem Adi praises Garvey’s legacy:

"They needed those symbols in order for the movement to grow. Without those flags, there would be no Marcus Garvey in our memory." [25:31]

Moira Makumau reflects on the flag's pervasive presence and its role in fostering a sense of community and safety:

"I think that was a big part of what Garvey wanted to say with the red, black, and green black folks. In a world that is constantly threatening, you come together under this flag and feel safe." [32:02]

Key Takeaways

• Symbolism Matters: Flags like the Pan African and Juneteenth flags serve as powerful symbols for unity, identity, and resistance.
• Marcus Garvey’s Vision: Garvey’s efforts in creating the UNIA and the Pan African flag laid foundational stones for Black nationalism and Pan Africanism.
• Enduring Legacy: Despite facing significant opposition, the symbols Garvey introduced continue to inspire and unify Black communities globally.
• Personal and Collective Identity: Flags provide both personal solace and collective identity, reinforcing feelings of safety and belonging within marginalized communities.

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Notable Quotes:

• Marcus Garvey: "We are not going to be a race without a country. God never intended it, and we are not gonna abuse God's." [15:18]
• Moira Makumau: "If I see someone flying that flag outside of their home or in their business, I may have no idea what that person believes. We might not even like each other. But that flag, the decision to fly that flag, it feels like someone's telling me, you're in a place that's safe for black people." [31:43]
• Colin Grant: "Garvey recognized through reading that actually he could conjure an alternative to the reality in which he found himself. He could change the narrative." [11:14]

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Closing Remarks

"The Red, the Black, and the Green" serves as a deep exploration of how design and symbols, specifically flags, play a crucial role in shaping and expressing collective identities and movements. Through the lens of Marcus Garvey’s legacy and the enduring presence of the Pan African flag, the episode underscores the profound impact that thoughtful design and symbolism can have on societal change and personal identity.

Transcript

[Roman Mars]

This episode is brought to you by WhatsApp. If you're like me, your personal messaging is also your personal space. Completely private. That's why it's nice to know that on WhatsApp no one can see or hear your personal messages. So the calls with your mom, chats about the latest work drama, late night voice messages, and all those photos and videos of your dog. Every personal message stays private because no one, not even WhatsApp can see or hear your personal messages. WhatsApp message privately with everyone. This episode is brought to you by PNC Bank. Some things should be boring like banking. Boring is safe and reliable. You don't want your bank to be surprising. Surprising is for podcasts about seemingly insignificant inventions that impact our lives, not banks. PNC bank strives to be boring with your money so you can be happily.

[Christopher Johnson]

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[Roman Mars]

PNC Bank Brilliantly boring since 1865 Brilliantly boring since 1865 is a service mark of the PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. PNC Bank National Association Member FDIC.

[Emmett Fitzgerald]

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[Roman Mars]

This is 99% invisible. I'm Roman Mars. This is a rebroadcast of an episode reported a few years ago by Christopher Johnson. It has really interesting history. It's about flags. It's everything I love in a story, so if you haven't heard it before, definitely listen to it. And if you have listened to it before, listen again because I guarantee you don't remember the details. But if you want to hear a completely brand new episode of 99% invisible about lifeboats on the Titan, you can right now. If you subscribe to Sirius XM podcast plus on Apple Podcasts or visit siriusxm.com podcastplus to listen with Spotify or another app of your choice, non subscribers will hear that very same story next week, so everything will be made available to all. But if you subscribe to SiriusXM podcast plus, you can hear episodes of 99% invisible one week early and ad free. And subscribing goes a long way to support the work that we do here. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcast plus on Apple Podcasts or visit siriusxm.com podcastsplus to listen with Spotify or another app of your choice. Okay, on with the show.

[Christopher Johnson]

A quick heads up. This episode has some offensive language. After Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd last year, tens of thousands of people all over the world took to the streets to pro police violence against black people.

[Emmett Fitzgerald]

Whose lives matter.

[Moira Makumau]

Black lives matter. And if you look at images from these marches, you'll probably start to notice a common color scheme. Lots of red, black and green.

[Christopher Johnson]

99Pi producer Christopher Johnson.

[Moira Makumau]

You'll see those colors everywhere. Red, black and green picket signs and banners. Red, black and green hoodies and hats and red, black and green flags.

[Hakeem Adi]

Sometimes it's good to see that red, black and green flag, particularly when there's times of strife and people outraged and angry and they start to come to that realization that we're not getting anywhere with the begging.

[Moira Makumau]

Moira Makumau has several of these flags in different sizes, including a huge one that he likes to fly outside of his house. He says that wherever there are protests or demonstrations against threats to black life, the red, black and green will be there.

[Hakeem Adi]

When people are ready for more than what they've been getting and they're ready to challenge the system, then you see the red, black and green flags come out.

[Christopher Johnson]

And not just at demonstrations. This tricolor scheme has been used on T shirts, on high top chucks, and in works of art that have sold for millions of dollars.

[Moira Makumau]

The flag was invented to unite black people all over the world who were living under racial repression. And when it first came into existence, the flag posed some bold questions about where black people owed their loyal to the nations where their lives were demeaned and threatened, or to a new nation, one they'd build entirely for themselves. And for hundreds of thousands of black folks, the red, black and green symbolized the answer. The flag has been in use since 1918, but I'm gonna start a couple decades before that with the story of a super racist song about flags.

[Colin Grant]

In the beginning of the 20th century, there was vaudeville, there was minstrelsy in America, and there was this tradition of coon songs. Can I say that word? Christopher?

[Moira Makumau]

This is writer and historian Colin Grant. He's talking about an old style of American music that's named after a racial slur. Coon's songs were exactly what they sound like. The lyrics were deeply racist, based on gross stereotypes about black life and speech patterns, usually sung over ragtime piano.

[Christopher Johnson]

And in 1900, one of the biggest songs of the genre came out, there.

[Colin Grant]

Was a very famous coon song called Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon. And it was a song that lampooned black people for not having their own flag and lampooned them for the idea that they should have their own flag.

[Moira Makumau]

Two white composers wrote the song, and I got somebody to play the sheet music for me. Here's what it sounds like in the lyrics. The head of a black social club gets up to speak and he says he's just come back from a Labor Day parade where he saw all these different races proudly waving their national flags. Ireland has her harp in shamrock England floats her lion bold Even China waves a dragon Germany and eagle gold. And then he comes to the US and what won't Yankees do for the old red, white and blue? The lyrics seem to drive at the idea that the stars and stripes didn't belong to black people, that they'd need something else to represent them. The song went on to propose a flag for black people that's crammed with all these racist stereotypes.

[Christopher Johnson]

Every Race Has a Flag was performed by more than 100 touring vaudeville acts and was part of the vaudeville circuit for more than three decades. It was huge, which isn't surprising given the era. The US Wasn't even two generations out of slavery. Jim Crow and Separate but Equal were in full effect. Lynching and other terrorist violence surged.

[Moira Makumau]

Black Americans were getting the message from all sides, including popular music, that they weren't respected or safe or really even considered fully American. Now, as gross as the song was, the lyrics hinted at something that did resonate for black folks.

[Colin Grant]

That actually a flag was something that enabled people to be welded together. That idea was one which many black.

[Christopher Johnson]

People understood, and in particular, a Jamaican born labor organizer and journalist named Marcus Garvey. In the early 1900s, Garvey bounced around Central and South America trying to start some advocacy newspapers fighting for working black people. But he wasn't having much luck.

[Moira Makumau]

Garvey wanted more work opportunities and some adventure. He was also curious to see how black people like himself were living in other parts of the British empire. So in 1912, he set off across the Atlantic.

[Colin Grant]

Young Marcus Garvey, in his mid-20s, he went to England at that time for someone in the British colonies. London is where you would go to try to establish yourself, to say, I have arrived. I'm going to partake of this splendid imperial enterprise which the British had ruled over for centuries. He's going to go to the heart of empire.

[Christopher Johnson]

In London, Garvey landed a gig at a newspaper that carried stories about black life throughout the diaspora. He also got a pass to the British Museum, which had a large library.

[Moira Makumau]

Garvey began reading ideas totally new to him, Ideas that came to be known as Pan Africanism.

[Colin Grant]

Pan Africanism is concerned with the unity and liberation of Africa and people of African heritage. I like to think of it as a mighty river with many streams and currents.

[Christopher Johnson]

Hakeem Adi, a professor of African and black diaspora history, says the source of that river is the transatlantic slave trade.

[Moira Makumau]

Slavery forced together millions of people from across the African continent. Adi believes Pan Africanism started there more than 400 years ago. It developed as those people with different languages and cultures began to understand their shared conditions and then align to change them.

[Christopher Johnson]

By the early 20th century, black intellectuals had done a lot of thinking and writing about global Africa, centered black identity.

[Colin Grant]

Ideas about repatriation, ideas about the importance of independent states like Haiti, like Ethiopia, like Liberia, Ideas about colonialism and what needed to be done to reform it, and ideas about the glories of historic African civilization. So it's in this sort of context that Garvey and his work develop.

[Moira Makumau]

One big part of this development was the way Garvey thought about Africa. As a kid, he'd been taught that Africans were primitive and backwards, with no history to speak of. What he'd read in London told him the opposite was true. Garvey realized that Africa could be the center of racial pride for all of black humanity.

[Christopher Johnson]

Along with this Pan African thought, Garvey was also heavily influenced by writings about black self sufficiency, the call to build a black world that was economically, politically and culturally independent from white society. Garvey combined these ideas with his newfound Afrocentrism and a political philosophy started to emerge.

[Moira Makumau]

It had been just two years since Marcus Garvey had arrived in London. He'd left Jamaica hoping to find work and for a chance to see more of the world. But what he'd found in the heart of the British empire, the seat of a massive colonial power, was the way he thought to free the entire black world.

[Christopher Johnson]

Garvey became convinced that black people in Africa and throughout the diaspora share a common identity. They also shared a responsibility to advance the race and and to protect it.

[Moira Makumau]

And the safest place for them was one built solely by black hands.

[Colin Grant]

The idea that you had to forge a nation of your own, that you couldn't trust the man to look after yourself. And when I say the man, I mean the imperial powers were not going to further the likes of someone like Marcus Garvey or the black People over whom they ruled. And Garvey recognized through reading that actually he could conjure an alternative to the reality in which he found himself. He could change the narrative.

[Christopher Johnson]

Garvey sailed back to the Caribbean in 1914. This was still several years before he'd make the red, black and green flag that he intended to stand for all of black humanity. But he was already thinking about how to build the kind of nation that such a flag would represent.

[Colin Grant]

On the ship going back from England to Jamaica, he famously said to himself, where is the black man's army? Where is the black man's military chief? He looked about and he saw none. All he saw was subjugation. And he said to himself, he was going to build that army and he was going to establish a new African empire.

[Moira Makumau]

Garvey put his Pan African thinking to work almost as soon as he landed in Jamaica. He formed an organization called the unia, the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Its primary objective was to establish a universal confraternity among the race. Here's how Garvey described the UNIA many years. Hello, citizens of Africa.

[Marcus Garvey]

I greet you in the name of the Universal Nuclear Improvement association, an organization that seeks to unite into one solid.

[Moira Makumau]

Body the 400 million Negroes of the world for the purpose of bettering our.

[Marcus Garvey]

Industrial, commercial, educational, social and political conditions.

[Moira Makumau]

But the UNIA got off to a so, so start. Garvey once again found himself strapped for cash. So to raise money and build a following, he left Jamaica again. This time he headed to Harlem. And that's where Marcus Garvey really took off as a race leader.

[Colin Grant]

America is the seat of wealth, is the seat of promise, the seat of any person who has some ambition that wants to have a bigger canvas, to realize his ambition. So he was a young man in his mid to late 20s. He came with a hope and a prayer, with lot two farthings to rub together.

[Christopher Johnson]

When Garvey arrived in 1916, Harlem was going through some major changes of its own. The black population there had been surging for about a dozen years. Folks were coming from other parts of New York City, from down south, and like Garvey, from the Caribbean.

[Moira Makumau]

It was the beginning of the so called New Negro era, or the Negro Renaissance in art and politics. Black Harlemites from throughout the Diaspora argue furiously over what it meant to be black.

[Christopher Johnson]

Garvey jumped headlong into the debate. He'd stand on one of Harlem's famous soapboxes and address a crowd with his nascent Pan Africanist ideas.

[Moira Makumau]

But not everybody was feeling young Marcus Garvey including the era's most famous black intellectual.

[Colin Grant]

The premier man, the premier leader at that time was W.E.B. du Bois. And his organization, the NAACP, had captured the imagination of black people at the time. Du Bois was ascendant.

[Christopher Johnson]

W.E.B. du Bois felt that full civil rights were the keys to black freedom in a country that was hostile to their survival and peace. He believed in America as a viable nation for black folks. It would take real struggle, but there was a path for black people to be whole and safe under the stars and stripes.

[Moira Makumau]

Marcus Garvey saw things totally differently. He came to believe that the fundamental problem for black people in the west was the west itself. There was no way the US Or Great Britain or any other Western power was gonna let black people be truly free.

[Marcus Garvey]

We are not going to be a race without a country. God never intended it, and we are not gonna abuse God's.

[Moira Makumau]

Garvey believed that black people were, as he put it, a mighty race and that the only way for them to realize their full potential and to survive the anti blackness of the west was to come together and build a separate black world.

[Marcus Garvey]

Bobby Long did it. France under Napoleon did it. America under George Washington did it. Africa with 400 million black people can do it. If you cannot do what other men have done, what other nations have done, what other races have done, then you have better die.

[Christopher Johnson]

The more time Garvey spent in the U.S. the firmer that position became in the South. He'd witnessed firsthand the struggles of rural black America living under Jim Crow. He'd come from Jamaican society where class often outweighed race privilege. But in the US he noticed that was flipped a dynamic which inspired Garvey to center his message on blackness.

[Colin Grant]

He believed that actually race should come before class, that you only became powerful by uniting together, by having a powerful voice through sheer numbers, therefore, we should cleave together as black people and place primacy on race.

[Moira Makumau]

Then something happened that put the difference between Du Bois and Garvey in sharp relief and gave Garvey an opportunity to really articulate the Pan Africanist vision that he'd been developing since his days at the British Museum.

[Marcus Garvey]

America is called to arms. The first volunteers are cheered, thousands of them, and millions more to follow.

[Colin Grant]

When Woodrow Wilson brought America into the First World War under the idea that they were going to make the world safe for democracy, Garvey would stand on his soapbox and say, that's all very well, Woodrow Wilson, but how about making Georgia safer? The black man first, the US entered.

[Christopher Johnson]

World War I in April 1917. That summer there was large scale racial violence in several cities. Some of the worst was in East St. Louis. A labor dispute turned into an all out assault on the city's black residents. Whites set fire to black neighborhoods. White snipers shot and killed black people in the streets. There were mob beatings and lynchings.

[Colin Grant]

The suddenness and the sheer shock of the violence of East St. Louis changed everybody. And yet Woodrow Wilson was going to take America into the war because America was this great savior without recognizing that many of the transgressions that were going to be challenged in Europe also existed on home soil.

[Moira Makumau]

Sometimes Garvey would respond to racist violence with calls for revenge or armed self defense. Du Bois and the NAACP stood firmly against this approach.

[Christopher Johnson]

The two men also disagreed on whether or not black men should enlist to fight in Europe, given the racial climate.

[Colin Grant]

In the US So whereas Du Bois said, we must forget our differences between ourselves as black people and the white man, we must put our shoulder to the wheel and fight the common enemy. Garva was saying the very opposite. Garva is saying, no, do not go off and fight the white man's war for him. Because come the end of the war, things will revert to the way that they'd been before.

[Moira Makumau]

And that's exactly what happened as those.

[Colin Grant]

Soldiers came back and some of them were even lynched in their uniforms. There are many people who saw that Garvey had been right.

[Christopher Johnson]

The idea that World War I would make things better for black people didn't pan out. In fact, as the war ended, cities and towns across the US exploded in an unprecedented wave of anti black violence. It had been 50 years since Black Americans were declared full citizens of the US Black people had invested in the democratic process and now they'd gone overseas and fought and died under the stars and stripes.

[Moira Makumau]

And yet the country's deadly racial caste system stayed firmly in place, just as Marcus Garvey had predicted.

[Colin Grant]

And I think that made him seem, in the eyes of many black people, a kind of prophet, a seer, someone who could see into the future, but also someone who was fearless. I mean, he was fearless and that was very empowering. People wanted to align themselves with him. They saw that he was a winner.

[Moira Makumau]

Garvey had been adding up events in cities like East St. Louis. He saw what was happening to black soldiers and civilians alike. If the question was, to whom do black people owe their loyalty? Garvey's answer was clear. Black people owe their loyalty first to other black people.

[Colin Grant]

He recognized that in his mind anyway, that black people were Africans in exile in America. And there was going to be no place for them. There was no future for them in America.

[Moira Makumau]

But Marcus Garvey had a plan.

[Colin Grant]

They had to get out, and they had to establish their own place, and that place was going to be Africa.

[Christopher Johnson]

Garvey believed that every single black person on the planet was an African and that the continent was their birthright. He said Africa should be free of colonial rule so that black people themselves can develop their own societies there.

[Marcus Garvey]

For 250 years, we have struggled under the burden and rigors of slavery. We were maimed, we were brutalized. We were ravaged in every way. We are men. We have hopes, we have passions, we have feelings, we have desires, just like any other race.

[Colin Grant]

And so Garvey would be calling for Africa for the Africans, those at home and those abroad.

[Marcus Garvey]

The cry is raised all over the world, of Canada, for the Canadians, of America, for the Americans, of England, for the English, of France, for the French, of Germany, for the Germans. Do you think it unreasonable that we, the blacks of the world, should raise the cry of Africa for the Africans?

[Christopher Johnson]

Garvey had long understood that he needed cohesion in order to achieve his dream of an independent black world. The campaign for a homeland would fail if black people didn't see themselves as a single global race.

[Colin Grant]

How are you going to cleave those people of that race together? What can you do to reimagine a society where whiteness is not the thing that defines you? You're not in opposition to whiteness. You are just black. You are just your own people.

[Moira Makumau]

Ironically, part of the answer came from white people. Garvey drew on what he'd seen years earlier in London. He was inspired by how the British used symbols to flex their strength and to unite people across their vast empire.

[Colin Grant]

He saw the great buildings of power. He saw these great columns with these admirals on top of them. He saw that the way that the British celebrated their history through symbols of conquest, through symbols, authority. I think he really understood the power of symbols to enliven people, to conjure this notion that you are part of something greater than yourself.

[Christopher Johnson]

Garvey had taken note of all the trappings of nationhood.

[Colin Grant]

He was very influenced by the idea that the show of power came through things like the idea of planting yourself under a flag, of saying that you belong to a group. He recognized that that's what imperial powers did.

[Moira Makumau]

Marcus Garvey filtered all of that inspiration through his black nationalist prism. And out came a flag, a banner that would stand for the entire black world.

[Marcus Garvey]

Oh, yes, the Cause is grand, the cause is glorious Surely we shall not turn back oh, Ceylon, Ceylon, Ceylon Almighty ship of state Ceylon, Ceylon until the flag of the red, the black and the green is the.

[Christopher Johnson]

Garvey designed the Pan African flag as a rectangle with three horizontal bars, red on top, then black and green at the bottom.

[Moira Makumau]

According to the unia, the red stands for the blood spilled in the fight to protect and defend Africa. Green represents Africa itself, its lushness and the motherland that Garveyites saw as their birthright. And black stands for the people of the continent and the diaspora.

[Christopher Johnson]

Garvey introduced the Pan African banner in 1918, and it quickly became the symbol of his rapidly growing international movement.

[Moira Makumau]

And that success came partly from the sheer potency of Garvey's message, which he spread throughout the Americas during these exhausting speaking tours. Plus, the unia's newspaper circulated Garveyism all over the world.

[Christopher Johnson]

And then there was Garvey's single biggest recruiting tool, the unia's commercial and passenger steamships called the Black Star Line.

[Moira Makumau]

Garvey wanted a fleet that would sail between ports in north and South America, the Caribbean and Africa. The Black Star line would be 100% black owned and operated.

[Christopher Johnson]

In a world where public transportation was often segregated and black people were routinely limited to the lowest classes of travel, the Black Star Line promised comfort, respect, safety and speed to its black passengers.

[Moira Makumau]

5,000 black folks showed up to watch the first Black Star Line ship leave its East Harlem port in 1919. According to @ least one observer, the crowd was delirious with excitement. The Black Star Line never got as big as Garvey had envisioned, but it inspired pride and hope in black people around the world.

[Marcus Garvey]

Brother, sister countryman, you better get on board.

[Christopher Johnson]

There was even a song about the ships recorded while they were still active. Each and every one of those Black Star Line vessels hoisted the red, black and green colors from its masts.

[Colin Grant]

And when those ships came into harbor with the uni flags flapping, there was the most extraordinary excitement, because that was a manifestation of something that they thought to be impossible. So the flags on board the ships acted to promote the growth and the huge ambition and reach of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association. But for the flags and the ships, there would be no mass movement. They needed those symbols in order for the movement to grow. Without those flags, there would be no Marcus Garvey in our memory.

[Hakeem Adi]

Garvey, to me, is the. I call him the standard bearer of success under duress, who was blessed to do far more with less.

[Moira Makumau]

Maurya Makamau is the official historian of the unia.

[Hakeem Adi]

Make sure you also call him the outrunner and the outdoer and out of this world. Third Rock from the Sun Bar none. As far as I'm concerned.

[Moira Makumau]

By the end of the decade, Garvey's movement was massive. Two million people had joined the unia. It would eventually become the largest organization in black history. And its members proudly flew the Pan African banner.

[Hakeem Adi]

Yeah, you would see a lot of houses with, you know, red, black and green flags on the outside, as well as mass meetings in local cities all around the globe. They would have red, black and green flags whenever, you know, they had meetings. You know, red, black and green buttons as well on the lapel. And even some of the ministers would have their robes with red, black and green when they were preaching the gospel of Garveyism.

[Christopher Johnson]

In 1920, the UNIA held its convention in New York City. It was a sprawling, month long affair attended by tens of thousands of people.

[Moira Makumau]

And there the UNIA officially declared red, black and green the colors of the Negro race.

[Christopher Johnson]

Then those colors were put on spectacular display when the UNIA held a massive parade meant to conjure a state procession. The flag was part of this medley of symbols that Garvey used to project to the world. Black unity, strength and greatness.

[Colin Grant]

Primarily, Marcus Garvey was a showman. And in 1920, Marcus Garvey put on the greatest show on earth. And he had the uniform of authority with his Victorian military regalia with his bicornet helmet and his plumes in his helmet. There were huge choirs of a hundred and more on the streets walking with him. There were uniformed guards with their sabers rattling. There were placards saying, our time has come down with lynching. There were bands playing. There was a spirit of carnival. It was the thing you wanted to be a part of. And. And it was a street performance that led to the most magnificent statement of black intent that there'd ever been.

[Moira Makumau]

But Marcus Garvey also drew a lot of fire. Federal investigators had been after Garvey since he first came to the US and at the same time, W.E.B. du Bois and other black leaders were also coming for Garvey. They said his talk of an African empire was foolish. They called his business dealings shady and said that they were especially dangerous to the working class black people who invested in them. Others saw the UNIA's pomp and military regalia as clownish and embarrassing to the race.

[Christopher Johnson]

A campaign called Garvey Must Go pressured law enforcement to redouble their investigation of the unia, Garvey was eventually locked up for almost three years for mail fraud. In 1927, he was deported to Jamaica. Unia shrank severely after that, especially in the United States. In 1940, Marcus Garvey died in London. He was 52 years old.

[Moira Makumau]

Show me the race or the nation without a flag, Marcus Garvey once said in a speech, and I will show you a race of people without any pride. In the same address, Marcus Garvey invoked that minstrel tune from 1900 in song and mimicry. They have said, every race has a flag but the coon. But as far as Garvey was concerned, he'd silenced any notion of a flagless race. With the red, black and green banner that was flying all over the black world.

[Marcus Garvey]

When I am dead wrap the mantle of the red, the black and the green around me for in the new life I shall rise up with God's grace and blessings to lead the millions up the heights and the triumph that you well know.

[Christopher Johnson]

It's been more than 80 years since Marcus Garvey passed, but the UNIA still exists, and members like Moriama Kamau still salute its century old banner.

[Hakeem Adi]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I always keep the flag up in the house. Sometimes, you know, when I'm going to meet, I take the big flag on the train or hanging out in my car when I'm riding down the street, just so folks can ask you, what's that? What country is this?

[Moira Makumau]

But the red, black and green has grown way beyond the unia. In the decades after Garvey's death, several African countries incorporated the Pan African colors into their own national flags as they gained independence.

[Christopher Johnson]

In the US the red, black and green colors were prominent during the Black Power movement and the black consciousness renaissance in the 1960s and 70s. Starting in the late 80s, the tricolors were a big part of hip hop fashion.

[Moira Makumau]

In a way, the Pan African flag has done exactly what Garvey had hoped. He made this enduring symbol that transcends any one organization or country or even hemisphere. He created a single flag that's recognized all over the world as the symbol of blackness.

[Hakeem Adi]

Some of those, like I said in the community who fly the flag, they know it makes them feel good. They may not understand its history, its full power, but they know it represents them as a people.

[Moira Makumau]

Okay, so I want to say one last thing about the Pan African flag. I'm a black man. I was born in the US as far back as I know. My family is from this country. They helped build it. My mom worked for the D.C. government. My dad is a war vet, and so are a bunch of my uncles. My great grandfather is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. But even with all this family history, for me there's also the experience of being black in America, which can make safety and belonging feel tenuous. Standing under the Stars and Stripes is at best an uneasy and insecure thing because the flag stands for lots of things, including imperialism and white supremacy. So for me, it's not a place where I feel at home. Whenever I find myself in neighborhoods where U.S. flags are displayed, unless it's a super black part of town, I get pretty uncomfortable. I don't feel safe. It's very different with the red, black and green. If I see someone flying that flag outside of their home or in their business, I may have no idea what that person believes. We might not even like each other. But that flag, the decision to fly that flag, it feels like someone's telling me, you're in a place that's safe for black people. And, you know, I think that was a big part of what Garvey wanted to say with the red, black, and green black folks. In a world that is constantly threatening, you come together under this flag and feel safe.

[Christopher Johnson]

We talk about another interesting flag from our history, the Juneteenth flag. After this.

[Roman Mars]

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With flexible booking options, mobile tickets and millions of verified reviews. I'm one of those five star reviews. You'll find everything you need to simplify trip planning and book the best things to do in thousands of destinations. Discover and book experiences for your next [e-mail] that's getyourguide.com let's be real. B2B marketing is tough. You can craft the perfect campaign, but if it lands in front of the wrong people, it might as well be invisible. It's like reaching pro gamers instead of programmers. That's where LinkedIn ads come in. LinkedIn is a network of over 1 billion professionals who actually get business on LinkedIn ads. You can target your buyers by job title, industry, company role, seniority, skills, company revenue and more. So stop wasting budget on the wrong audience and start targeting the right professionals with LinkedIn ads. LinkedIn will even give you a $100 credit on your next campaign, so you can try it yourself. Just go to LinkedIn.com invisible that's LinkedIn.com invisible. Terms and conditions apply only on LinkedIn ads in business. They say you can have better, cheaper or faster, but you only get to pick two. What if you could have all three at the same time? That's exactly what some of the world's most innovative brands and AI tech companies have since they upgraded to the next generation of the cloud. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure OCI is the blazing fast platform for your infrastructure, database, application development and AI needs where you can run any workload in a high availability, consistently high performance environment and spend less than you would with other clouds. How is it faster? OCI's block storage gives you more operations per second cheaper. OCI costs up to 50% less for compute, 75% less for storage and 80% less for networking. Better. In test after test, OCI customers report lower latency and higher bandwidth versus other clouds. This is the cloud built for AI and all your biggest workloads right now with zero commitment. Try OCI for free. Head to oracle.com invisible that's oracle.com invisible Flag Day may be over, but there's another big day coming up later this week that involves its own flag, Juneteenth, which is a portmanteau of June and 19th. Juneteenth has other names too, including Freedom Day or Liberation Day, but by whatever title, the day is really important. It commemorates the emancipation of slaves in the United States, specifically the date when the end of slavery was enforced by the Union army in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865. The date has been celebrated in many places for over a century, but it wasn't a federally recognized holiday until June 2021. As part of the push for the holiday to be recognized, the founder of the National Juneteenth Celebration Foundation, Ben Haith, designed a juneteenth flag in 1997. It was then revised in 2000 by Lisa Jean Graff before it was officially flown. Now, this time of year, people ask me about the Juneteenth flag all the time, more and more every year because it is a great flag. It's really lovely. Like the American flag, the Juneteenth flag is red, white and blue, which is a more striking choice to me since all the stuff I learned from Christopher's report reporting in this episode about the Pan African red, black and green flag. The Juneteenth flag features a central white star referencing the Lone Star State where the last of the country's enslaved population finally learned of their freedom in 1865, and around that is another 12 pointed white star outline, and together they symbolize a star of Texas bursting with new freedom throughout the land over a new horizon. That horizon consists of a red arch meeting the blue sky above. To quote the creators of the flag, the red, white and blue colors communicate that American slaves and their descendants were all Americans. Sometimes the flag is shown with The Juneteenth Date June 19, 1865 written across the fly end. Frankly, this is not my favorite addition, but the basic Juneteenth flag is top drawer. It is a good flag, as is the red, black and green. So if you fly them together, get ready to talk about all the interesting history that we discussed in the show with the people who pass by. This episode of 99% Invisible originally aired in 2021. It was produced by Christopher Johnson, edited by Emmett Fitzgerald, music by Swan Rial, mixed by Amita Ganatra. Kathy Tu is our Executive Producer, Kurt Kohlstedt is the Digital Director, Delaney hall is our Senior Editor. The rest of the team includes Chris Beru, Jason De Leon, Martine Gonzalez, Vivian Leshima, Dawn Joe Rosenberg, Kelly Prime, Jacob Medina Gleason and me, Roman Mars. The 99% invisible logo was created by Stefan Lawrence. We are part of the Sirius XM Podcast family now headquartered six blocks north in the Pandora Building in beautiful uptown Oakland, California. And if you want to hear another brand new episode of 99% invisible one week early and ad free, subscribe to Sirius XM podcast plus on Apple Podcasts or visit siriusxm.com podcastsplus to listen with Spotify or any other app of your choice. You can find us on all the usual social media sites as well as our own Discord server. There's a link to that as well as every past episode of [e-mail].

[Emmett Fitzgerald]

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[Moira Makumau]

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