Last modified: 2019-02-18 by rick wyatt
Keywords: united states | afro-american | heritage | james wesley chester |
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image by Tomislav Todorovic, 22 April 2017
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African American National Heritage Flag was created in 1998 [1] by James
Wesley Chester 1932-2012) of Trucksville, Pennsylvania, founder of the Institute
for African American National Heritage [2]. It is divided horizontally red above
green, with a black canton, which occupies nearly one-half of the flag length
and is charged with 50 white stars, arranged as in the USA national flag, but
set upside-down. In the bottom central part of the green field, there is black
inscription */Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing/* - the title and first verse of the
song written by James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938), African-American writer and
activist [3], which is considered the African-American national anthem [4]. The
flag seems to have never been widely used: its only available photo originates
from the Institute for African American National Heritage website, which seems
to have been active from late 1999 [5] to early 2009 [6]. The same photo was
used by Mr Chester as his avatar in the discussions at the AfricanAmerica.org
forum [1]. None of these sources, though gives any explanation to the flag
design and its peculiarities, such as the upside-down stars.
Sources:
[1] AfricanAmerica.org forum:
http://www.africanamerica.org/topic/the-black-man-the-greatest-problem-in-america-today
[2] Obituary of James Wesley Chester at Legacy.com:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/citizensvoice/obituary.aspx?pid=157141172
[3] Poetry Foundation website - Biography of James Weldon Johnson:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/james-weldon-johnson
[4] Poetry Foundation website - Lyrics of "Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing":
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/48104
[5] The Institute for African American National Heritage website at the Internet
Archive (saved on 1999-10-01):
http://web.archive.org/web/19991001061957/iaanh2.org
[6] The
Institute for African American National Heritage website at the Internet Archive
(saved on 2009-04-17):
http://web.archive.org/web/20090417210436/iaanh2.org
Tomislav Todorovic, 22 April 2017