What do the symbols in the Juneteenth flag stand for?

 

Red, white and blue represents the American flag, and that the enslaved people and their descendants were and are Americans. Juneteenth was proclaimed a federal holiday in 2021.

 

June 19, 1865 was the day that enslaved black people in Galveston, Texas found out that they had been freed more than two years previously by the Emancipation Proclamation.

 

The curve that extends across the width of the flag represents a new horizon: the opportunities and promise that lay ahead for black Americans.

 

The bursting outline around the star is inspired by a nova, a term that astronomers use to mean a new star. The nova represents a new beginning for the African Americans of Galveston and throughout the land.

 

The white star in the center of the flag represents both the newly freed people in Texas and the eventual freedom of African Americans in all 50 states.