Four stripes of the four directions and an indigenous profile that is also a V sign hand: the flag of the American Indian Movement, founded in 1968.
Every fact about the flag, each with what it means.
Normal flagFIAV symbol: the form of the flag.
CivilFIAV symbol: who may fly the flag.The flag in the words of vexillology and heraldry.
It is a rectangular field with a 2:3 ratio divided into four equal vertical stripes: black, yellow, white and garnet, from the flagpole.
Each element and how many of the 1,390 flags in the catalogue carry it. In yellow, the rarest.
Every date in its story, at a glance.
The movement was founded in July 1968 in Minneapolis
It has used the emblem of the profile with two feathers at least since 1978
How it was born, how it has changed and what it means.
The American Indian Movement, AIM by its English initials, is an organisation of Native Americans in the United States. Its flag has four stripes, black, yellow, white and garnet, the colours of the four directions, and an emblem with the profile of an indigenous man.
The movement was founded in July 1968 in Minneapolis, in the north of the United States. At first it wanted to fight poverty, discrimination and police violence suffered by indigenous people in the cities. Later it also fought for treaties, education and the culture of the native peoples.
It has used the emblem of the profile with two feathers at least since 1978, placing it over the four coloured stripes. Nobody knows who designed it.
The stripes and the emblem are the same, but versions with slightly different tones circulate, and also one without the emblem, just the four stripes.
Black
the west.
Yellow
the east.
White
the north.
Red
the south. The four colours of the directions are shared by peoples such as the Ojibwe and the Lakota.
Profile with feathers
an indigenous man; the feathers are at the same time a hand making the V of peace.
The two feathers of the headdress are drawn as two raised fingers, so the emblem can be read as a profile or as a hand making the V.
The flag of the Miccosukee tribe, in Florida, uses the same four colours in horizontal stripes, in another order: white, black, red and yellow.
In 1973 members of the movement occupied the village of Wounded Knee, in the Pine Ridge reservation, for 71 days, and proclaimed there an ‘independent Oglala nation’.
Buy the flag on AmazonAffiliate link: if you buy, Wiki Banderas receives a small commission.
Test what you have read about the flag of American Indian Movement.
Text based on the article “Non-Tribal Native American Flags — Flags of the World” from the Spanish Wikipedia, published under the licence CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources consulted:
Flag image: Autor desconocido, Wikimedia Commons · Public domain.
