Black History Month
The Triband, Una Marson, Guion Bluford & Percival Everett
BOC#041 - BLACK HISTORY MONTH (U.K)
4 MINUTE MUNCH
TITLE PIECE: GARVEY, ETHIOPIA, AND THE TRIBAND
With the U.K celebrating Black History Month this October, you’ll have noticed the red, green and black triband on public display everywhere from libraries to book shops, to schools and offices. But what do these symbolic colours stand for, and how did they come to represent pan-Africanism?
Beyond being a representation of black independence and freedom, the red, green, black and yellow (or gold) bands are in fact an extension of the Ethiopian flag, the only African nation to have avoided colonialism, despite the best efforts of the Italians as early as 1895 (and as late as 1935).
To be clear, while Ethiopia had successfully defeated the Italians in 1895-6, for a period of five years commencing 1936, the Italians did in fact have a foot in Ethiopia (then Abyssinia), but as Ethiopia was a member of the League of Nations, its occupation was never recognized and is thus seen as an aberration of history with the Italians having been driven out in 1941.
The original Ethiopian flag was commissioned by Emperor Menelik II in 1897 and is considered by many to be the first flag of an African nation state. Until the marxist revolution of 1974, the imperial coat of arms showing the ‘Conquering Lion of Judah’ holding a staff flying the national colours was featured on the flag to indicate Ethiopia’s royal ancestry. The modern flag features an encircled radiating pentagram reflecting the unity of Ethiopia’s various people; a symbol that was introduced in 1996 following the nation’s new constitution.
While colonial efforts were unfolding in east Africa, Marcus Mosiah Garvey was in the process of developing what’s best described as the ‘Back to Africa’ concept, successfully migrating his ideas from Jamaica to New York in the form of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in 1916. Garvey was a proponent of pan-Africanism in which he called for the repatriation of the black diaspora to their ancestral African homelands. He went on to set up a shipping company called Black Star Line with the intention of developing black economic prosperity and commerce, but his plans didn’t quite manifest. Following his politically motivated imprisonment in 1925, having served less than half of his five year sentence, he was sent back to Jamaica.
Before his extradition, however, Garvey commissioned a flag of pan-Africanism as part of his struggle against colonialism, and black economic dependence. The red, black and green triband was revealed at a conference in New York in 1920.
Garvey’s desire for a flag was a response to a 1900s song which was still in circulation in which the lyric ‘Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon’ was sung. ‘They can’t say that now,’ he announced.
According to the UNIA Universal Negro Catechism, the triband colours are said to represent ‘…the color of the blood which men must shed for their redemption and liberty.” The black is said to be “the color of the noble and distinguished race to which we belong,” while the “green is the luxuriant vegetation of our Motherland.” Garvey was undoubtedly influenced by Ethiopian independence following the defeat of the Italians in 1895-6, something which became apparent in the UNIA anthem which begins ‘Ethiopia, thou land of our father…’
Garvey is considered a prophet in Rastafarianism, a Jamaican born movement of the 1930s. In 1920, he famously said ‘Look to Africa, when a black king shall be crowned, for the day of deliverance is at hand’. Ten years later, Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia was crowned. Garvey died in London in 1940, and is today buried in Jamaica.
DID YOU KNOW…
Born in 1905 in Jamaica, Una Marson became the first black broadcaster at the BBC with her weekly feature, Caribbean Voices, airing during the war years. She was a journalist, editor, playwright and poet committed to advancing Black people’s rights and building the literary tradition in the Caribbean. Her role in anti-colonial politics saw her become secretary to Haile Selassie during his exile in Geneva following the invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, as well as a temporary stint as secretary to Marcus Garvey. Una lived in Peckham, and today a Southwark library is named after her. She died in 1965.
ON THIS DAY: 13th OCTOBER
Construction of the White House began on this day in 1792. On the same day in 1775, the U.S Navy was founded.
Margaret Thatcher, also known as the “Iron Lady,” who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, was born on this day in 1925. On 12th October, the IRA attempted to kill her and her cabinet by bombing her Brighton hotel. While she escaped, five others were killed. Before entering politics, she was a chemist and later retrained as a barrister. She became the MP for Finchley in 1959.
The Copiapó mining accident ended on this day in 2010, with all 33 miners rescued after being trapped in the San Jose gold and copper mine for 69 days. The incident was caused by a gargantuan piece of rock breaking away from the mountain which caused a chain reaction that ultimately saw the mountain collapse above them. Chile is the world’s leading copper producing country.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK: GUION BLUFORD IN SPACE
On August 30 1983, Guion Bluford made history by becoming the first African-American to be launched into low Earth orbit by way of the Space Shuttle Challenger. He would go on to amass 688 hours in space on three further Space Shuttle missions.
Before becoming an Astronaut, Bluford flew as a pilot in the U.S Air Force where he flew 144 missions during the Vietnam war. In 1974 he earned his master’s degree in aerospace engineering, followed by a doctorate in 1978.
BOOK QUOTE: ERASURE BY PERCIVAL EVERETT
The 2023 feature film American Fiction was based on the novel Erasure and was awarded the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Percival won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2025.
MISSED LAST WEEK? READ: Scurvy at Sea
