Haiti’s Coat of Arms

Do you really know what the flag means?

We wave it every January 1st, at parades, weddings, and carnivals. It moves with pride above our heads, stitched into memory and celebration. But how often do we pause to bask in the weight of its meaning, the gravity of what this country fought to become.

This painting centers the Haitian Coat of Arms not as decoration, but as declaration. The palm tree rises strong and unbroken, crowned with liberty, rooted in resistance. Cannons, drums, anchors, and flags surround it, not as symbols of war, but as proof of preparedness, unity, and self determination. This is not chaos. This is order born from revolution.

Inscribed below, L’Union Fait La Force, Union Makes Strength, is not a slogan. It is instruction. Haiti did not win freedom through chance or permission. It was claimed through collective will, strategy, and an unshakable belief that Black people were worthy of sovereignty.

This work asks the viewer to look again. To reconsider what it means to inherit the first Black republic. To understand that the flag is not simply waved. It is carried. It carries blood, brilliance, defiance, and global consequence.

The Haiti Coat of Arms stands as a reminder that this nation was never meant to beg for dignity. It was built to define it.

This painting is an invitation. Learn it. Honor it. Protect it. Because a flag only becomes powerful when the people remember why it exists.