To understand the symbol you must first grasp the Ankh’s meaning.  The Ankh is an ancient African symbol signifying the law of the opposites (e.g. day and night, hot and cold, etc.).  The essence of the universe is based on this law, which is the unity of and the struggle between the opposites.  To explain this further, the unity of the opposites means that one must exist in order for the other to exist (e.g. there’s no day without night, no hot without cold, and so on…) and the struggle of one trying to overcome the other creates motion amongst them (e.g. day trying to overcome night, hot trying to overcome cold, and so on…).  Once the shift takes place, balance is generated (the balance is in the struggle) and change occurs  by one overpowering the other.  This is called the “Key to Life.”

In a social sense, our ancestors taught us that this law also applies to our struggle against our oppressors, which are our opposites.

It is important for us as Black/African people to understand the law of the opposites. At that point, we will make sense of our reality and gain complete knowledge of who we are. By knowing ourselves, we will know our relationship to EVERYTHING that is around us. Then, and only then, is when we will attain legitimate power. This is why the black fist rises from the Ankh.