Celebrate Haitian Independence and Honor Earthquake Anniversaries at Englewood’s 19th Unity Day Event

CHICAGO (WLS) — It has been 15 years since a devastating earthquake struck Haiti, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of individuals and causing extensive damage worth billions of dollars.

Haitian-Americans in the Chicago area gathered on Saturday night to commemorate the lives lost during the earthquake while also honoring the independence of their homeland.

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The “19th Annual Unity Day” event was held in Englewood, where the island nation’s impact on the birth of Chicago was explained.

On January 1, 1804, Haiti’s inaugural president Jean-Jacques Dessalines played a key role in liberating the nation. The event on the South Side recognized this historic liberation and also remembered the tragic events of 15 years ago when the country was struck by one of the most severe natural disasters in the Western Hemisphere.

It’s culture goes back centuries.

“We are the first free Black republic across the world,” first generation Haitian-American Cidney Francois-Friis said.”We sparked revolutionary independence across South America, across Central America. So, Haiti freed themselves, then it was Mexico, Ecuador, Peru.”

The pride in their country is something they hope to continue for generations.

“You can’t forget where you came from,” said Patrick Brutus, Co-Chair and Organizer for Unity Day.

That effort of learning the history in the Chicago-area, where about 40,000 Haitian-Americans call home, was highlighted at Kennedy-King College in Englewood.

“We are marking the 221st anniversary of our Haitian independence,” said Cyndee Montes Newman, Founder and Executive Director of Daughters of Haiti. “This is our 19th Annual Unity Day. The community has an opportunity to come together to celebrate that independence, to eat our freedom soup or soup joumou together as a community, and fellowship.”

The island nation’s liberation in 1804, eventually gave birth to another city in 1837.

“Jean Baptiste Point du Sable from Haiti, Saint-Marc, founded Chicago, [and] discovered this midwestern territory,” Brutus said.

The event also marked 15 years since the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti. A bell was rang for each of those years, honoring the hundreds of thousands of lives lost.

“The resiliency of our people is really strong,” Brutus said. “That’s what the takeaway of tonight is; we’re still here.”