Flag
Object number2018.148.4
Date1969
MediumFabric; Wood; Paint; Metal
Credit LineGift of George A. Simmons
DescriptionBlack fabric flag on wooden batten. Flag is rectangular single layer of woven black fabric. Front has hand-painted symbol at center of a black fist with red outlining on red circular field with two green laurel branches curved around the perimeter; black fist is not painted and is actually the black unpainted fabric. Painted symbol is visible on reverse in reverseDimensionsHeight x Width x Depth: 72.25 × 44 × 0.875 in. (183.5 × 111.8 × 2.2 cm)Historical NotesThis flag was carried during the Black Construction Coalition demonstrations in 1969-1970. These demonstrations protested the discrimination by trade unions to include and admit African American construction and tradesmen so they could e employed at capital projects around the city. Organized under the leadership of Nate Smith, one of the few African Americans with a union card, the Black Construction Coalition initiated the activism in Operation Dig that held public demonstrations, marches, and at the site of some of the major construction projects in the city including Three Rivers Stadium, US Steel Building and Western Psychiatric Institute. Simmons worked for then Mayor Peter Flaherty as a special assistant but unofficially assisted the strategy of the Black Construction Coalition. During the march on Monday, August 25, 1969 this flag was one of many carried by George Simmons in his car to hand out to marchers as they descended from the Hill District to downtown then over to the Northside location of the site of Three Rivers Stadium construction. By the end of 1970 the BCC proposal to include African Americans in the trade unions and job training was adopted and morphed into the Pittsburgh Plan that became a model for other cities to address the same type of racial discrimination in trade unions.
Related institution
Black Construction Coalition
On View
Not on view
c. 2007
Marlow White Uniforms, Inc.
1934-1936
