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African American Flag by David Hammons (U.S.)

Last modified: 2022-07-16 by rick wyatt
Keywords: united states | afro-american | heritage | david hammons |
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[African American Flag by David Hammons] image by Tomislav Todorovic, 20 June 2012



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Description of the flag

David Hammons (b. 1943) is an African-American artist from New York City. Among his works, which are often inspired by the civil rights and Black Power movements, one of the best known is the "African American Flag", which he designed in 1990 by recoloring the U.S. national flag in the Garvey colors. The flag is a part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and a copy is hoisted at the entrance to the Studio Museum in Harlem, a New York museum devoted to the art of African-Americans, so its its design is no longer only a work of art, but has also found use in real life. The dimensions of the original flag are 56" x 7' 4" (142.2 x 223.5 cm), but a variety of sizes can be seen on the Web and the flag flown from the Studio Museum seem to be closer to the default proportions of the U.S. national flag than to the Hammons' model.
Sources:
[1] Wikipedia page about David Hammons: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_hammons
[2] Wikipedia page about the Studio Museum in Harlem: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Studio_Museum_in_Harlem
[3] Museum of Modern Art, New York - African American Flag: www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?object_id=81317
[4] African American Flag flying from the Studio Museum: www.pbase.com/image/30984337

Tomislav Todorovic, 20 June 2012

A copy of this flag is now on display at the U.S. "National Museum of African American History and Culture" as commented in the online "Smithsonian Magazine" article (https://nmaahc.si.edu/object).  The flag image seems to be the same one as seen in source [3].
Bill Garrison, 16 June 2022


Use of the African American Flag at Black Lives Matter Demonstrations

The flag has also been used by the Black Lives Matter movement. It has appeared at the July 2014 protests in Ferguson, Missouri following the killing of Michael Brown. (source) (photo)
In April 2015, T-shirts bearing image of the African American Flag and words "Black Lives Matter" were used in Baltimore, Maryland during the protest following the death of Freddie Gray from injuries he received while in police custody. (source)
Tomislav Todorovic, 3 November 2019