Origin of the Black and White US Flag
The flag does not go back to the Civil War. There is an extremely popular story out there surrounding this flag. One version says that Union soldiers in the US Civil War would fly this flag as a way to communicate that they refused to surrender or give quarters (i.e. protection) to prisoners. Another version of the story says that Confederates would fly it as an act of anti-American resistance. Unfortunately, there’s no evidence either story is true. Both stories don’t make much sense if you think about them long enough. Confederates would have never flown an American flag (after all, they were fighting the United States), and the Union had very concrete flag rules. Beyond that, the Union took serious pride in “Old Glory”—the nickname for the proper US flag.
The flag actually was popularized by artist Jasper Johns around 1970. Jasper Johns is a famous American artist who is most commonly associated with the Pop Art movement (alongside artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein). Johns was obsessed for a period with painting variations of the American flag, and this included multiple experiments with a black and white American flag. Johns’ iconic flag paintings were based on an idea he had that the most powerful images in our society go unstudied. People don’t really look at American flags. They just sort of register a flag is there and move on. Johns’ flag paintings aim to engage the viewer to reconsider the flag (and its variations) as a type of art worthy of examination. Cool, right?!
Popular Variations (& Their Meanings
Red Stripe—firefighters A black and white American flag with a single red stripe is meant to represent firefighters. The red stripe is reminiscent of fire. Fire trucks are also red, so the association is relatively easy to make.
Green stripe—first responders The black and white flag with a green stripe is meant to represent all first responders, including police officers, medics, animal control techs, paramedics, and more. Green was chosen for this flag because many federal uniforms are green. If you see an American flag with multiple green stripes, that’s the official flag of the New York Police Department. If the green stripe is closer to a light lime color (kind of like Mountain Dew), it’s meant to represent solidarity among people who work in the building trades.
Yellow stripe—dispatchers or security guards and truckers The yellow stripe “thin line” flag is either used to express solidarity with emergency dispatchers, or solidary with truck drivers and security guards. This is a less popular flag so we can’t officially confirm the symbolism, but some sources suggest the yellow is meant to mirror the reflective vests worn by some guards, truckers, or dispatchers. Some people make a distinction between a gold flag (for dispatchers) and a yellow flag (for guards and truckers).
Grey stripe—corrections personnel The grey (or silver) flag stands for solidarity among people who work in prisons and jails. It’s one of the newer “thin line” flags, but it’s thought that gray was chosen because it’s the color of jail bars and handcuffs.
Blue stripe—police (the “thin blue line”) The blue flag is easily the most popular version of the “thin line” flag. It’s meant to represent police officers, and blue was chosen because it’s the most common color for police uniforms. Part of the controversy around the blue line flag is based in the fact that the black and white flag was used so often during the Black Lives Matter protests. It appeared that police were using a variation of the black and white flag to signify that they were in opposition to black people in America. Today, the flag is still viewed by many as a problematic symbol.
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