{"id":435,"date":"2026-06-19T11:06:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T11:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanlivingreport.com\/?p=435"},"modified":"2026-06-19T11:06:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T11:06:27","slug":"the-juneteenth-flag-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanlivingreport.com\/?p=435","title":{"rendered":"The Juneteenth flag, explained"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Editor\u2019s note, June 19, 2026, 6 am ET<\/em><\/strong>: This story is being republished for Juneteenth. It was originally published in 2022.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Part of the <\/em>Juneteenth issue<\/strong><\/em> of <\/em>The Highlight<\/strong><\/em>, produced in partnership with <\/em>Capital B<\/strong><\/em>. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As the Juneteenth holiday approaches, you\u2019ll start to see various symbols of Blackness across the country. Front lawns, apartment balconies and clothing with the Pan-African flag, \u201cBlack Power\u201d fist, and other celebratory symbols will be everywhere. But did you know there\u2019s a specific flag for Juneteenth?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In fact, it has a backstory that goes back to the late 1990s. Capital B spoke with Ben Haith, the flag\u2019s creator, and others to learn more about its history and impact.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The history<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Haith, a community organizer and activist known better as \u201cBoston Ben,\u201d created the flag in 1997. In an interview with Capital B Atlanta, Haith said once he learned about Juneteenth, he felt passionately that it needed representation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI was just doing what God told me,\u201d Haith said. \u201cI have somewhat of a marketing background, and I thought Juneteenth, what it represented, needed to have a symbol.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Haith wasn\u2019t impressed by his initial version \u2014 a \u201crough draft\u201d \u2014 but every Juneteenth holiday he would raise the flag near his son\u2019s middle school in Roxbury, a majority-Black community in Boston.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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After getting some inspiration, he knew which colors and symbols he wanted in the flag, he just needed to finalize it. That\u2019s when he met illustrator Lisa Jeanne Graf, who responded to an ad in a local newspaper and finalized the flag in 2000.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The design elements<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The colors<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Juneteenth is often associated with red, green, and black: the colors of the Pan-African flag. However, those aren\u2019t the colors of the Juneteenth flag. The banner shares the colors of the American flag: red, white, and blue. In the past, Haith has said it was a purposeful choice \u2014 a reminder that Black Americans descended from enslaved people are exactly that: American.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cFor so long, our ancestors weren\u2019t considered citizens of this country,\u201d Haith said. \u201cBut realistically, and technically, they were citizens. They just were deprived of being recognized as citizens. So I thought it was important that the colors portray red, white and blue which we see in the American flag.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Steven Williams, the president of the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation, agreed with the sentiment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re Americans of African descent,\u201d Williams said. His foundation\u2019s mission statement, he added, \u201cis to bring all Americans together to join our common bond of freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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There has been some debate about whether the Juneteenth flag is the most appropriate symbol for the holiday. Haith said he understood why people could have some hesitancy around using a red, white, and blue flag to commemorate the freedom of enslaved people, which some see as an honor to the oppressors of Black Americans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cSome of us were raised to recognize the American flag, we salute the American flag, we pledged allegiance to the American flag,\u201d Haith said about skepticism around the flag. \u201cWe had relatives who went to war to fight for this country. We put a lot into this country even when our ancestors were enslaved. They worked to help make this country an economic power in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The star<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The star in the middle of the flag has a dual meaning: On June 19, 1865, enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, were informed of the Emancipation Proclamation, President Abraham Lincoln\u2019s declaration of the freedom of enslaved people. The star is meant to represent Texas as the Lone Star state, but also the freedom of enslaved citizens.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Williams also spoke of the use of stars as key to help enslaved people escape to freedom.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWhen people were escaping down the Underground Railroad\u2026they used stars to navigate where they were at, when they were going up and down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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With its dual meaning, it\u2019s meant to represent the role that Texas plays in the history of Juneteenth, but also serves as another reminder that Black people are free.<\/p>\n

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The outline around the star and arch<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The outline was inspired by a nova, which is an explosion in space that creates the appearance of a new star. In this instance, it represents both enslaved people being free and a new beginning for Black Americans, Haith said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Dividing the red and blue in the middle of the flag is an arch, which has similar meaning to the white outline around the star. The curve is meant to represent a \u201cnew horizon.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Williams hopes the design reminds people to keep in mind that new beginnings take effort.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI tell young people, \u2018you are free,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cYou might have obstacles, you might have hurdles, but you are free. \u2026 And you need to exercise that freedom, which is liberty.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The timing <\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Juneteeth is now a federal holiday, nearly 200 years after enslaved people in Texas were informed of their freedom. The change, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021, came at the behest of demands for racial progress following the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Cities across the country were forced to reckon with calls to remove and rename monuments and institutions honoring Confederate leaders of the past.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In Richmond, Virginia, a capital of the former Confederacy, monuments of Confederate generals that were centuries old were dismantled after protester demands across the country. In metro Atlanta, there is an ongoing debate around the removal of Confederate leaders etched on the side of Stone Mountain. It is said to be the largest monument to the Confederacy in the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In America, the Southern Poverty Law Center estimates that at least 160 Confederate symbols were dismantled in 2020.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Individual states started to recognize Juneteenth as an official holiday prior to Biden\u2019s declaration. The first was Texas made in 1980, and more states followed suit in 2020.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Theo Foster, a professor of African American history at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, noted that symbols celebrating Black pride are important, but they\u2019re not enough.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe tend to just hold on to symbols and let the material go,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s where I\u2019m hypercritical of progress narratives, and flags and 1619 projects, because we don\u2019t get to that point of where the rubber meets the road where the symbols meet the experience of Black boy joy or Black girl magic.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The banner\u2019s impact<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Williams recognizes the flag as a larger part of his organization\u2019s decades-long campaign to make Juneteenth a national holiday. The National Juneteenth Observance Foundation has been on the front lines of the fight to have Juneteenth nationally recognized since its founding in 1997. Haith himself is a member.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Foster says he sees the Juneteenth flag as an attempt to honor Black Americans\u2019 enslaved ancestors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cRacism exists, anti-Blackness exists. How do we respond to that problem?\u201d he said. \u201cI think the Juneteenth flag is an attempt to respond to that harm that is ongoing. I think people are right to be critical of it, but also to be in conversation of what\u2019s useful about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Haith said he\u2019s been overwhelmed by the fact that Juneteenth is now a federal holiday, and feels honored when people use the flag.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI believe we represent our ancestors,\u201d Haith said. \u201cWhen we celebrate, we\u2019re celebrating for them, and we\u2019re celebrating for the future of our people. The flag represents the people of the past, it represents us, and it will represent the people in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kenya Hunter<\/em> is a reporter covering health at <\/em>Capital B Atlanta<\/em>. Before joining Capital B, Hunter served as an award-winning education reporter at the Richmond Times-Dispatch.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Ticks are spreading Lyme disease across America, but we can beat them. Here\u2019s how.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

See More:<\/span><\/p>\n
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  • The Highlight<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Juneteenth flag creator Ben Haith shares the backstory and inspiration for his design.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Juneteenth flag, explained - American Living Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanlivingreport.com\/?p=435\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Juneteenth flag, explained - American Living Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Juneteenth flag creator Ben Haith shares the backstory and inspiration for his design.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/americanlivingreport.com\/?p=435\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Living Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-19T11:06:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanlivingreport.com\\\/?p=435#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanlivingreport.com\\\/?p=435\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanlivingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b970e3bc484fe2e26860a4380d70de8\"},\"headline\":\"The Juneteenth flag, explained\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-19T11:06:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanlivingreport.com\\\/?p=435\"},\"wordCount\":1314,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanlivingreport.com\\\/?p=435#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanlivingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/3d51a8492a35695743d9a034078a50b3.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/americanlivingreport.com\\\/?p=435#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanlivingreport.com\\\/?p=435\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanlivingreport.com\\\/?p=435\",\"name\":\"The Juneteenth flag, explained - 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