NEW YORK—Community leaders, friends, advocates and supporters gathered on the first day of Black August to honor and raise the Black Liberation and Unity flag containing the red, black and green colors that was established to symbolize racial pride by freedom fighter Marcus Mosiah Garvey and his organization, the U.N.I.A.
The flags were boldly displayed on the grounds of The Heritage House in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York, on the first day of August. Known to be the community and cultural hub of Brooklyn, The Heritage House was founded by Mother Rosetta Gaston.
She was a beloved community activist, educator, civil rights leader and a contemporary of Dr. Carter G. Woodson. The flag ceremony was also to honor her great contributions.
Rosetta “Mother” Gaston helped to bridge the gap between the youth and the elders of Brownsville by teaching Black history and culture to the Brownsville residents prior to her passing in 1981.
UNIA and Miriam Robertson, executive director
of Heritage House at the August 1 ceremony and
commemoration
Marcus Garvey, who was from Jamaica, wanted to unite Blacks from the diaspora in the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa and established the red, black and green flag on August 13, 1920.
Mr. Garvey was targeted by the U.S. government for his vision and activism on behalf of Black people and was unjustly convicted of mail fraud in 1923. He was posthumously pardoned in 2025 by then-president Joe Biden on his last day in office.
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, whose father was from Jamaica, referred to Mr. Garvey as “one of the greatest leaders of our time.” In an October 30, 2004, message titled, “The Disease of Envy among Black Leaders and Organizations,” Minister Farrakhan spoke about the revolutionary.
“The Honorable Marcus Garvey, one of the greatest leaders of our time, knew and was concerned about the future. He was not a man looking only for his own greatness, but he understood that his people were great.
In order for his idea to gradually take root among the people, that idea had to be fed to others who would wrap their being around that idea. Then, when his physical presence was no longer there, the idea that made Marcus Garvey who he was, and is, would live,” he said.
In the spirit of Mother Gaston and Marcus Mosiah Garvey a unified coalition has been established in Brooklyn to galvanize the Black and Latino residents of the community to foster cultural awareness, intergenerational unity and to link various organizations together.
The UNIA Flag Day Coalition of Brownsville aims to unite on the principles of Pan-Africanism from Marcus Garvey and the activism of Mother Gaston which will culminate in 2027 for the 1st Flag Day Commemoration of the heroes and the sheroes known and some unknown.
Who laid the foundation and on whose shoulders, we stand on today. A parade is being planned as well to kick off flag day in Black August 2027. See page 5 in this edition of The Final Call for more information about Black August.
