219 years ago today, the first Haitian flag was created by Jean-Jacques Dessalines and sewn by his goddaughter Catherine Flon.
Dessalines removed the white strip of the French flag to signify the union of the Black and mulatto populations (the latter guided by Alexandre Pétion) during the Revolution. This also was significant as it symbolized the coming removal of the white colonists—and by extension, white people—from Ayiti. Dessalines had the motto "Liberté ou la mort" added for use in his army. Flon is an important figure of Haitian Flag Day and the Haitian Revolution all together.
Haiti was the first independent nation in Latin America, the first post-colonial independent black-led nation in the world, and the only nation whose independence was gained as part of a successful slave rebellion.