As the Juneteenth holiday approaches, you’ll start to see various symbols of Blackness across the country. Front lawns, apartment balconies, and clothing with the pan-African flag, “Black Power” fist, and other celebratory symbols will be everywhere. But did you know there’s a specific flag for Juneteenth?
In fact, it has a backstory that goes back to the late 1990s. Capital B spoke with Ben Haith, the flag’s creator, and others to learn more about its history and impact.
Haith, a community organizer and activist known better as “Boston Ben,” created the flag in 1997. In an interview with Capital B Atlanta, Haith said once he learned about Juneteenth, he felt passionately it needed representation.
“I was just doing what God told me,” Haith said. “I have somewhat of a marketing background, and I thought Juneteenth, what it represented, needed to have a symbol.”
Haith wasn’t impressed with the initial concept, but every Juneteenth holiday he would raise the flag near his son’s middle school in Roxbury, a majority Black community in Boston.
A grand jury in Mississippi has declined to indict the white woman whose accusation set off...
Elizabeth Johnson Jr. is — officially — not a witch.
Until last week, the Andover, Mass., woman,...
The father and son who are serving life in prison for Ahmaud Arbery's murder were again...
A New Zealand man who helped build a US-based pornography empire by coercing young women into...
