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History Of The Haitian
Flag:
For a Haitian citizen, the
national flag of Haiti is indisputably a symbol of general
pride. Haitians would consider any offense to their Haitian
flag to be an offense to their country. Consideration the
history of the Haitian flag, its origin say a lot about the
nation’s social make-up. Haitians therefore, are
particularly emotional about the Haitian flag and even
reserve a special day to honor it. That day is May 18th.
In Haiti, Flag Day is a major national holiday celebrated in
Haiti with great fanfare on the grounds of the
National Palace and all cities in the country; also in other
countries with a large number of Haitians.
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Haitian Flags Here
On August 21, 1791 the
Haitian Revolution began its struggle against the French
occupation. From 1791 to about 1793, the revolt became more
widespread and gave rise to a number of large groups still
fighting independently. In those times, each main leader
would use any piece of cloth as a flag. Slowly the slave
movement found some synergy and came to follow the
leadership one main person:
Toussaint L'Ouverture
had led his whole war with the French tricolor: blue, white
and red flag. After the capture of
Toussaint L'Ouverture ,
Jean-Jacques Dessalines had taken up the torch in 1802 with the same
color flag, but with a slight difference: the general had
simply removed the French rooster and the initials RF
République de France which at that time were found on the
white band of the flag of the French Republic.
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At that time, an original Haitian flag
was not yet created. The fact that the rebel army was
carrying a French flag was presented by the press of the
time under the title of "Proclamation." The headquarters of
the French army in Saint Domingue pretended that this
tricolor flag, carried as a rallying sign by the indigenous
army, was proof that the
insurgents were not fighting for
the independence of Saint Domingue but only to keep their
liberty, just like the French of the home land, a liberty
that the First Consul, the dictator Napoleon Bonaparte
wanted to take from them.
During the famous battle in the
Cul-du-Sac, a plain not far from
Port au Prince, on December
1, 1802,
Alexandre Sabès Pétion confronted the colonial troops of
Gilbert Gérard.
This confrontation was not successful to
rebel army and in the course of retreat, the rebel army lost
the tricolor flag which was quickly seized by the enemy as a
prize of war. This served to reinforce the determination of
Pétion about the necessity for the rebels to have their own
standard. In February 1803, when
Pétion happened upon this
newspaper which contained the story of his flag lost during
the battle of December 1, he raced to get the newspaper in
question to the headquarters of
Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the commander in
chief, in Petite-Rivière in the Artibonite; he carefully
explained the affair in detail and took the opportunity to
advise the commander-in-chief that the revolutionary army
urgently needed to adopt a different flag. Get a
Souvenir Flag of Haiti
Dessalines immediately reacted to
Pétion's recommendation. He grabbed a red, white and blue
flag, and with a sharp jerk, ripped the white stripe to
pieces and joined the blue and red together, making the
first Haitian flag, symbolizing the union against the
colonialist, pro-slavery France. That is how the famous
national bicolor was born between the end of February and
the beginning of March 1803.
Pétion wanted to hold a big meeting with
all the high ranking officers where this new flag would be
adopted after debate. This would consolidate this symbol of
symbols for which the people had been ready to die.
Pétion
finished by convincing
Dessalines and his principal
lieutenants, in particular his private secretary and
confidant Boisrond Tonnerre, to hold a major meeting during
May in Arcahaie.
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This meeting, known as the Congress of
Arcahaie, was set for May 14 to 18, 1803; the agenda had two
essential points: the establishment of a united command of
the revolutionary army under the supreme authority of
Jean-Jacques Dessalines, and the adoption of a flag by the
indigenous army. The two principal leaders at this time,
Dessalines and
Pétion, jointly drew up this agenda. On May
14, 1803, military delegations flocked to Arcahaie; only a
few of them were from the South. The principal heads of the
insurgency did answer the call. The Congress was opened by
Dessalines and
Pétion May 15, 1803, on the Mérotte
plantation. The two men focused on the military situation,
insisting on the need for all forces rebelling against the
enemy to unite so that victory would be more rapid and
decisive.
Curiously, there was not a word about the
new Haitian flag; priority was put on new strategies and
tactics to thwart the colonial army and also to select a
Commander of the
insurrection army.
Dessalines was appointed
general-in-chief of the insurrection army.
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![[Flag of 1806]](haiti%20flag-1806.gif) The
question of the new Haitian Flag came up on the last day,
May 18. The new Commander General suggested the old slogan
"Live Free or Die" be replaced by "Liberty or Death." The
debate over the proclamation of the creation of a new
Haitian flag lasted a whole day. It was only in the evening
that the Congress of Arcahaie definitively adopted the new
Flag of Haiti. The Haitian flag was created using the French
flag as a model. They eliminate the white stripe, and place
the remaining red and blue bands horizontally. The removal
of the white stripe symbolizes the abolition of the White
Man's control and
the union of blacks and mulattoes in Haiti. The arms are
composed of a cabbage palm surmounted by the Phrygian cap of
liberty and ornamented with trophies with a banner across
the bottom saying "L'Union Fait La Force" (Union Makes
Strength.
By this gesture, They
publicly designated that this country no longer wanted to be
recognized as a French territory and that the people who
lived on this land preferred to be dead rather than be
slaves. "Liberté ou la Mort!" meaning "Liberty
or Death" had
become the new motto as it had already been embraced at the
Vodoun ceremony known as "Ceremony of
Bois Caïman"
held on August 14, 1791.
Haiti’s first flag was sewn
by a lady named Catherine Flon at
the Congress.
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The French troops were
defeated during the
Battle of Vertières (18 November 1803).
Their capitulation allowed the proclamation of
Haitian independence on 1 January 1804
Dessalines and
Pétion's were
among the leaders of the anti-French insurrection movement.
African slaves lead a successful uprising to gain their
freedom eventually forming their own country - Haiti.
Dessalines, who had commanded the black and the mulatto
forces during the final phase of the revolution, became the
new country's leader. Haiti new flag is being raised proudly
all over the country. The Following is a list of resources
for Haitian Flag:
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Since May 18, 1803, the Haitian flag has
known many changes in position or of color.
These two pieces of fabric have not
stopped marking the legendary side of Haitian history all
the same. Haiti flag
is tightly linked to a history of struggle for freedom. Over
the span of over two centuries, however, the country has
never known a period free of tyranny, repression, political
conflict, racial animosity, and economic hardship.
Jean-Jacques Dessalines
became the new country's leader. On October, 8 1804
Dessalines
was proclaimed emperor under the name of Jacques
![[Flag of 1805]](haiti%20flag-1805.gif)
In 1805,
shortly after
Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaimed himself
emperor, the Haitian flag color was changed to black and red
bands placed vertically respectively. He ruled under a
dictatorial 1801 constitution.
After the emperor's death, in 1806,
the country will be divided into two republics for 14 years.
Henri Christophe, in the northern part kept the flag
that
Dessalines used. In the south and the western part of
the country.
From the time they rallied to the war for liberation,
Alexandre Sabès Pétion
nourished the idea of giving the indigenous army its own
flag.
Pétion
went back to 1804's flag that was blue and red only this
time he added the white squared portion that included the
country arms and the famous phrase "L'UNION FAIT LA FORCE",
meaning that through unity we find strength. After
the events of Pont Rouge (17 October 1806) when
Dessalines
was murdered, the empire was abolished and General
Pétion,
ruler of the south and west, re-established the blue and red
flag.
![[State flag, 1964-86]](haiti%20flag-st64.gif) The
Haitian flag was once again modified from 1964-86 during the
regime of the
Duvalier family. A black-red vertical bicolour
was used from 1964 to 1986 during the dictatorship of the
Duvaliers;
the state flag was charged with the arms but the civil flag
was plain. Note that the cap of liberty was omitted from the
arms during this period.
On February 25 1986, after the fall of
Baby Doc
and the
Duvalier regime, the Haitian flag was again changed to two
equal-sized horizontal bands, a blue one on top and a red
one underneath.
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