1960 — The Mali Federation Is Born

On June 20, 1960, the Mali Federation, the union of Senegal and the Sudanese Republic, gained independence from France. Dakar and Bamako celebrated together under the green-yellow-red flag with its black kanaga figure, two capitals sharing one flag and one moment of freedom after the long years of colonial rule.

The union would last only two months before Senegal's secession, but on this day, a bold dream of West African unity took flight. Its brevity does not diminish its meaning. In 1960, leaders imagined that newly free peoples might stand stronger together, and for one summer, that imagination became a country with a flag.