The Haitian flag has an interesting history, which impinges on the current design. In 1986, the old design of a blue stripe over a red stripe, both taking up half the space on the flag, was readopted. Superimposed onto the stripes in a bisection is the crest of the nation, which depicts weapons (which are a symbol of the defence of the idea of liberty which was inherited from their French colonists) and a palm with a Cap of Liberty.
The scroll on the crest shows the motto ‘L'Union Fait La Force ("Unity Makes Strength")’. Indeed, the flag’s blue and red is only lacking the white of the French tricolore, said to be so due to the white man being the oppressor when Haiti became independent in the early nineteenth century. It is reported that General Jean-Jacques Dessalines picked up a tricolore and ripped the white part out, joining blue and red together. The current colours on the flag can thus denote the harmony between black Haitians (blue) and the mixed Haitians (red).
The stripes were previously vertical but were then changed round to become horizontal. When Dessalines became self-proclaimed Emperor of Haiti, the blue was changed to black but was changed back briefly in the 1850s, reverting to the red-black design until 1986. In this year, Papa Doc Duvalier was deposed in a coup. The flag is celebrated on May 18 with Haitian Flag Day both in Haiti itself and in its citizens who live abroad or who come from Haitian stock.
Because the coat of arms is only used for national and military flags, whereas the civil flag consists solely of the two non-augmented horizontal bands, it was found at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin that Haiti shared the colours of the flag (it was red-black at this time) with Liechtenstein. It was the latter who had to add a crown to their flag. Thankfully there is no problem today due to the blue-red scheme.
The scroll on the crest shows the motto ‘L'Union Fait La Force ("Unity Makes Strength")’. Indeed, the flag’s blue and red is only lacking the white of the French tricolore, said to be so due to the white man being the oppressor when Haiti became independent in the early nineteenth century. It is reported that General Jean-Jacques Dessalines picked up a tricolore and ripped the white part out, joining blue and red together. The current colours on the flag can thus denote the harmony between black Haitians (blue) and the mixed Haitians (red).
The stripes were previously vertical but were then changed round to become horizontal. When Dessalines became self-proclaimed Emperor of Haiti, the blue was changed to black but was changed back briefly in the 1850s, reverting to the red-black design until 1986. In this year, Papa Doc Duvalier was deposed in a coup. The flag is celebrated on May 18 with Haitian Flag Day both in Haiti itself and in its citizens who live abroad or who come from Haitian stock.
Because the coat of arms is only used for national and military flags, whereas the civil flag consists solely of the two non-augmented horizontal bands, it was found at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin that Haiti shared the colours of the flag (it was red-black at this time) with Liechtenstein. It was the latter who had to add a crown to their flag. Thankfully there is no problem today due to the blue-red scheme.
