What does the red, white and blue Juneteenth flag represent? – The Courier-Journal

A few different flags might be on display around Juneteenth celebrations this week. Here’s a look at what they represent.
Juneteenth – also called Emancipation Day, Freedom Day or Jubilee Day – commemorates the day in 1865 when enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, received news that they were free, two years after Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
Thursday, June 19.
First created in 1997 by National Juneteenth Celebration Foundation founder Ben Haith, the banner is in red, white and blue of the U.S. flag to convey that all enslaved people and their descendants are American.
The flag features a five-pointed star representing Texas, the Lone Star State, outlined with a burst at the center. An arc runs through the center to symbolize a new horizon of opportunity for Black people.
Artist Lisa Jeanne GrafIn revised the flag in 2000, and in 2007 “June 19, 1865” was added to represent the date the legal decree was issued to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation, the Jan. 1, 1863, executive order declaring all enslaved people in the U.S. were free.
It was first displayed in Boston.
Find more information at the National Museum of African History’s website.
The pan-African flag
Year created: 1920
Designed by: Jamaican activist Marcus Garvey, who called for a Black liberation flag representing all of the African diaspora.
Design: Three horizontal stripes of red, black, and green. Red represents the blood uniting all people of Black African ancestry and shed for liberation; black represents Black people; and green represents the abundant natural wealth of Africa.
The Black American Heritage flag
Year created: 1967
Designed by: Melvin Charles and Gleason Jackson, to convey and represent pride in the history of Black Americans.
Design: One diagonal black stripe centered between two red stripes. Superimposed on the black stripe is a blunted sword surrounded by a golden wreath of fig leaves.
Texas became the first U.S. state to recognize Juneteenth as a holiday in 1980. After more than a million signatures were collected to make it a federally-recognized holiday; President Joe Biden declared it so in 2021.