Mrs Theodosia Okoh: The Woman Who Designed The Ghanaian Flag
Meet Mrs Theodosia Okoh, the woman who designed the Ghanaian national flag. Mrs. Okoh, was a former student of Achimota School….
Mrs. Okoh received an award from ECRAG in 1993 for “Special Honours for the Design of the National Flag”.
Mrs. Okoh is also a lover of hockey and played a lot of hockey with old Achimotans and held many responsible positions such as the Deputy Chairman for the Hockey Association. She was also the Junior Red Cross Director…
The black star was adopted from the flag of the Black Star Line, a shipping line incorporated by Marcus Garvey that operated from 1919-1922, also proudly giving the Ghana national football team their nickname The Black Stars….
The Ghanaian flag was the first African flag after the flag of Ethiopia to feature these colours.
Mrs. Theodosia Okoh was born to Rev. & Mrs. Asihene at Asante Effiduase. She attended school at Asante Effiduase and later Basel Mission Girls School at Agogo. She later became a teacher and taught briefly at Kukurantumi
In her interview Mrs Okoh said, she saw an ads in the paper and decided to have a go… and with the of the national anthem by Mr. Philip Gbeho in mind she settled on 3 colors of red, gold and green because of the geography of Ghana.
”After independence, it was advertised in the dailies for someone to design a flag that would replace the colonial flag. I quickly filed my application and mine was subsequently selected,…
Since I was an artist, I could not but to submit my application in the hope that mine would be the most outstanding.” Mrs Okoh
The Meaning of the Flag
‘I decided on the three colors of red, gold & green because of the geography of Ghana. Ghana lies in the tropics and blessed with rich vegetation.
The color Gold was influenced by the mineral rich nature of our lands and Red commemorates those who died or worked for the country’s independence.
Then the five pointed lone star which is the symbol of African emancipation and unity in the struggle against colonialism…’ Theodosia Okoh
- The red represents the blood of those who died in the country’s struggle for independence,
- The gold represents the mineral wealth of the country,
- The black star stands for African unity and emancipation /African freedom.
- The green symbolises the country’s rich forests and natural wealth
- How many Ghanaians/People know the person who designed Ghana national flag?
HISTORY MAKER! Thanks to Theodosia Okoh the Ghana national flag has given Ghana an identity all over the world
Source: Education/The Nana Churcher Show/JoyNews/GhanaNews
