Juneteenth flag’s backstory traces freedom and belonging

Created in 1997 by “Boston Ben” Ben Haith and finalized with illustrator Lisa Jeanne Graf in 2000, the Juneteenth flag uses the American flag’s red, white, and blue and a star with Texas roots to assert Black Americans’ freedom and citizenship—while sparking d

On June 19, as Juneteenth approaches, the flags tend to appear first in neighborhoods: front lawns, apartment balconies, and clothing stitched with Black symbols. But fewer people ask who designed the holiday’s own distinct banner—and why it looks the way it does.

The Juneteenth flag was created in 1997 by Ben Haith. a community organizer and activist known as “Boston Ben.” Haith said that after learning about Juneteenth. he felt strongly it needed representation. “I was just doing what God told me,” he said. “I have somewhat of a marketing background, and I thought Juneteenth, what it represented, needed to have a symbol.”.

He did not think much of his first version. calling it a “rough draft.” Still. each Juneteenth holiday he would raise the flag near his son’s middle school in Roxbury. a majority-Black community in Boston. Over time, he decided on the colors and symbols he wanted—but finalizing the design required a partner. He met illustrator Lisa Jeanne Graf after responding to an ad in a local newspaper. and Graf helped finalize the flag in 2000.

Juneteenth is often associated with red, green, and black, the colors of the Pan-African flag. The Juneteenth banner does not use them. Instead, its colors are the American flag’s red, white, and blue. Haith previously said the choice was purposeful: a reminder that Black Americans descended from enslaved people are exactly that—American. “For so long, our ancestors weren’t considered citizens of this country,” Haith said. “But 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.”.

Steven Williams, the president of the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation, echoed the idea of shared belonging. “We’re Americans of African descent,” Williams said. His foundation’s mission statement, he added, is “to bring all Americans together to join our common bond of freedom.”

The use of red, white, and blue isn’t without dispute. Haith said he understood why some people hesitate to use a flag associated with the nation when commemorating the freedom of enslaved people—especially because others see it as honoring the oppressors. “Some of us were raised to recognize the American flag. we salute the American flag. we pledged allegiance to the American flag. ” Haith said about the skepticism. “We 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.”.

At the center of the design is a star with a dual meaning. On June 19. 1865. enslaved Black people in Galveston. Texas were informed of the Emancipation Proclamation—President Abraham Lincoln’s declaration of the freedom of enslaved people. The star represents Texas as the Lone Star state, while also standing for the freedom of enslaved citizens.

Williams also described another connection between stars and escape routes. “When people were escaping down the Underground Railroad…they used stars to navigate where they were at, when they were going up and down,” he said.

There are more design details intended to carry the same message of both history and forward motion. Haith said the outline around the star and arch was inspired by a nova. an explosion in space that creates the appearance of a new star. In his telling, the nova represents both enslaved people being free and a new beginning for Black Americans.

Separating 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 “new horizon.” Williams said he hopes the design reminds people that new beginnings take effort. “I tell young people, ‘you are free,’” he said. “You might have obstacles, you might have hurdles, but you are free. … And you need to exercise that freedom, which is liberty.”.

Juneteenth itself is now a federal holiday—nearly 200 years after enslaved people in Texas were informed of their freedom. The change was signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021. after demands for racial progress following the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The law’s arrival also landed as cities across the country were forced to reckon with calls to remove and rename monuments and institutions honoring Confederate leaders from the past.

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. described as the largest monument to the Confederacy in the world.

Even beyond those headline cases, the Southern Poverty Law Center estimated that at least 160 Confederate symbols were dismantled in 2020. Before Biden’s declaration, individual states began recognizing Juneteenth as an official holiday. The first was Texas in 1980, and more states followed suit in 2020.

Not everyone is satisfied with the role of symbols in these moments. Theo Foster. a professor of African American history at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. said symbols celebrating Black pride matter. but they don’t solve material conditions on their own. “We tend to just hold on to symbols and let the material go,” he said. “That’s where I’m hypercritical of progress narratives. and flags and 1619 projects. because we don’t 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.”.

Williams and Haith place the flag within a broader campaign rather than a standalone gesture. Williams said he recognizes the flag as part of the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation’s decades-long push to make Juneteenth a national holiday. The foundation has been on the front lines of that fight since its founding in 1997, and Haith is a member.

Foster, for his part, said he sees the Juneteenth flag as an attempt to respond to ongoing harm. “Racism exists, anti-Blackness exists. How do we respond to that problem?” he said. “I 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’s useful about it.”.

Haith. meanwhile. said he’s been overwhelmed by the fact that Juneteenth is now a federal holiday. and he feels honored when people use the flag. “I believe we represent our ancestors,” he said. “When we celebrate, we’re celebrating for them, and we’re 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.”.

In the debate over what counts as commemoration, the flag’s backstory lands on a straightforward point: Juneteenth isn’t just a date. It is an argument about who belongs—and who must be recognized as free.

Juneteenth Juneteenth flag Ben Haith Boston Ben Lisa Jeanne Graf National Juneteenth Observance Foundation Steven Williams Abraham Lincoln Emancipation Proclamation Galveston Texas Underground Railroad Stone Mountain Confederate monuments George Floyd federal holiday