Melvin Charles, a native of Elizabeth, New , was educated at Thomas Jefferson High School and Bloomfield College. He also served in the United States Navy and received an Honorable Discharge. The youngest of three children, Mr. Charles treasured the values instilled in him by his parents which encouraged him to be persistent and set personal goals. He was a talented musician, photographer, and painter who worked for several years as a display designer and ultimately retired as a salesman for a plastics company, A trained artist , Mr. Charles designed The Black American Heritage Flag. In his quest to make Black American aware of the flag, he appeared at hundreds of meetings, conferences, conventions, churches, and schools in the East and West Coasts. He also made TV and radio appearance. Melvin Charles and his friend Gleason T. Jackson could not have known back in 1967 that what they embarked on one Sunday afternoon would still be a passion some twenty years later. They also could not know that only one of them would be the standard-bearer over most of those years, always in memory of the other. The Rallying Point is the story of a struggle to promote the symbol of pride in heritage and achievement the Black American Heritage Flag. The story tells the often painful, sometimes surprising, twists and turns encountered by Jackson and Charles as they strove to promote interest in the symbol. Heartbreak and disappointment were ever present with them, but more important was their rallying point -- the flag and its meaning. In a real sense, this story is a lesson in perseverance against apparently insurmountable odds. That perseverance and the unshakable commitment to the symbol, brought some poignantly joyous moments to Charles long after Gleason's physical death. This is a story that needs to be told. It looks candidly at the many recognized organizations-- and the people behind them -- that enjoyed the reputation of representing the black perspective. It looks at the process of marketing a concept, a symbolic representation of pride in race and heritage -- and the pitfalls that beset those who venture such a risky task. Mr. Charles chronicles each defeat and each triumph in careful detail. He continued to share his journey with the flag throughout his life and recorded a PBS special in Tampa, Florida in 2014. Mr. Charles passed away in 2017 at the age of 79. The resurgence of interest in the flag began in 2020 with the Black Lives Matter movement and with an increased interest in Black historical figures and symbols. In 2021 Mr. Charles' daughter, Joy Charles Kay, republished "The Rallying Point" in memory of her father and his significant legacy.