Saint-Junien, a town in the Haute-Vienne department of France's Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, has unveiled a plaque commemorating Haiti's independence of January 1, 1804, becoming the first city in France to do so, Haiti's embassy in Paris said, according to iciHaiti.

The plaque was the initiative of the “Foutez-nous la Paix” festival and the town council. Haitian Ambassador Louino Volcy, Mayor Hervé Beaudet, writer Lyonel Trouillot and geographer Jean-Marie Théodat attended the ceremony.

Condemning slavery, the mayor recalled the courage of Dessalines and the Indigenous Army that won independence against French troops, and said Saint-Junien, a town with a history of social and anti-colonial struggles, could not forget that uprising.

Ambassador Volcy said the town was paying tribute to the men and women who “dared to be free” and founded the world's first independent Black republic, calling the gesture a recognition of the importance of Haiti's history.