Catherine Flon was born on December 2, 1772, in Arcahaie in Saint-Domingue. Her parents traded in textiles from France. She became a seamstress with her own workshop, and had several apprentices. She was the god daughter of
Jean-Jacques Dessalines.
Creation of the flag According to Haitian revolutionary tradition, Flon created the country's first flag on May 18, 1803, the last day of the Congress of
Arcahaie. There, the leader of the Revolution,
Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Flon's godfather, cut apart a French
tricolor with his sabre, demonstrating his desire to break away from France. He gave the pieces to Flon, who stitched them back together, while leaving out the central white strip. In Haitian lore, the colors of the new flag took on a racialized meaning: the blue and red stripes represented a union between the
black and mulatto citizens of Haiti. Historians have noted some limitations within this legendary history of the flag's creation. For instance, primary sources from the Revolution reveal that rebels had used blue-and-red flags before the Arcahaie conference. Also, the first Haitians to use the bicolor flag had meant it to represent an extension of French Revolutionary values, rather than a rejection of them; early revolutionaries had fought to preserve the
1794 law of emancipation rather than to gain independence. == In Haitian culture and memory ==