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The Revolutionary Legacy of Haiti: From Slave Uprising to Global Symbol

The Birth of an Independent Haiti: A Defiant Act on New Year’s Day 1804

On January 1, 1804, under the leadership of General Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the former colony of Saint-Domingue declared its independence from France, reasserting its indigenous name—Haiti. Standing in Gonve in the western part of the island, Dessalines proclaimed, “I have saved my country; I have avenged America.” This declaration marked a historic first: Haiti became the first independent Black republic on the American continent, a symbol of resistance, and a direct blow against colonial enslavement and racial oppression.