Haiti 10 Gourdes Banknote – Face and Back

The famous Tricolor of France.  The blue symbolizes Liberty.  The White Symbolizes Equality.  The Red symbolizes Fraternity.  Long may it wave.

And yet…..

One might imagine Dessalines, a leader in the Haitian revolution against the French, the first slave revolt of the New World that would lead to an independent nation, looking upon that flag as the tide turned in Haiti’s favor at the beginning of the 19th century.  “White”, he’d sneer. “Equalty”, he’d spit.

The story goes that Dessalines, ripped apart the French tricolor, the blue from the white, and the red from the white, throwing away the white, and leaving the remainder.

Catherine Flon, his goddaughter, a skilled nurse, and very active in the revolution, took the remaining red and blue, and sewed them together to create the original Flag of Haiti.

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Flag of France on the left, Haiti on the right.