There is an unusual story behind the Guyana national flag, first officially hoisted when the country became independent on May 26, 1966. Unlike most national flags, it was designed by an American -- Whitney Smith, now director of the Flag Research Center in Winchester, Mass.
As a student in the 1950s when the first colonies in Asia, Africa, and elsewhere were struggling for independence, Smith keenly followed the creation of their new national flags. In l960 Smith wrote to Premier Cheddi Jagan of what was then British Guiana in South America. In response, Jagan indicated that no flag design had yet been chosen for the future independent Guyana, but that proposals were welcome.
Smith sent his idea, which was added to government files in Georgetown. Jagan was later driven from office by the British, but in 1966 a new government achieved independence. The parliamentary committee responsible preferred Smith's design over other suggestions for the new flag and assumed that he was a Guyanese citizen who had emigrated to America.
When Smith contacted the authorities about their new flag he was surprised and thrilled to learn that his pattern (with some modifications) had been selected. Later he visited the country to see "his" flag flying there and to learn more about Guyana and its symbols. See also ZFC1664, ZFC1643, and ZFC1649.ZFC Collectible Flag
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