<I>African-American Flag</I>
date: label: Date
content: 1990
name: label: Created by
content: David Hammons, American, born 1943
notes: label: Caption
content: Marcus Garvey designed the African American flag, which looked like the Italian flag, except that it is red, black, and green. But it is so abstract, so pure, that the masses were frightened by it. I made my flag because I felt that they needed one like the U.S. flag but with black stars instead of white ones. — David Hammons
label: Caption
content: The colors and symbols of David Hammons’s now-iconic flag symbolically merge the red, black, and green colors of Marcus Garvey’s pan-African flag and the stars and stripes of the American flag. His commingling of colors and symbols of both flags simultaneously reference Black pride and heritage and the ways African Americans have celebrated freedom while confronting America’s unfulfilled promises.
label: Description
content: A flag artwork by David Hammons. The flag takes the stars and stripes design of the United States flag and replaces the red, white, and blue with green, red, and black, the colors of the Pan African flag. The canton in the upper left corner is green with 50 black stars, while the thirteen stripes alternate between red and black. One from an edition of five.
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: African diaspora
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Black power
label: Topic
content: Design
label: Topic
content: Freedom
label: Topic
content: Identity
label: Topic
content: Justice
label: Topic
content: United States History
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
label: Classification
content: Textiles and Quilts
label: Exhibition
content: Reckoning: Protest. Defiance. Resilience.
label: On View
content: NMAAHC (1400 Constitution Ave NW), National Mall Location, Culture/Fourth Floor, 4 052
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Partial gift of Jan Christiaan Braun, who curated the ground-breaking exhibition Black USA, in Amsterdam in 1990, for which the African-American Flag was created. Museum purchase supported by The Ford Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2022.7
objectType: label: Type
content: flags
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © David Hammons
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: dyed cotton
label: Dimensions
content: L x W: 85 × 56 1/2 in. (215.9 × 143.5 cm)