Last modified: 2024-03-23 by rick wyatt
Keywords: human freedom league | united states |
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images by Dave Martucci, 6 May 2023
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On 12 October 1891, the Human Freedom League held its first meeting in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. The purpose of this organization was to promote
“… universal freedom for mankind, and the abolition of wars and the substitution
of arbitration and peace congresses in their places.” (Quoted in The Saint Paul
Daily Globe, St. Paul, Minnesota, 13 October 1891, p. 4.)
As a part of
the plenary session held in the afternoon on that date, the League adopted its
flag, a white field bearing the National Flag of the different nations in which
a branch of the league is located placed in the center of the white flag,
designed by Henry Petit.
In effect, it is a national flag with a white
border. Unofficially there were variants that added the phrase “Peace for all
nations” on the top border in gold letters. Sometimes that phrase or a similar
phrase was placed on a streamer that was attached to the pole above the flag.
Above are illustrations from 1908 and 1913, respectively, of the US Peace Flag.
By 1915, the design was heavily criticized as a “desecration” of the
American flag and it more-or-less fell out of use by the beginning of World War
I in Europe, partly due to the perceived failure of the League to prevent the
War. I do not know if, or how, it may have been used in other countries.
Dave Martucci, 6 May 2023
