If you’ve watched the trailers and behind-the-scenes videos we’ve been sharing, you might’ve noticed the 6-star emblem in our aircrafts, which is also seen in the armbands of our pilots.
As many details in Squadron 51’s lore, this emblem points to Brazil’s colonial past and to the centuries of resistance and fight for freedom that define our history.
In the late 18th century, while the French Revolution and the American Revolutionary War were taking place, the illuminist ideals were also reaching Brazil, influencing small revolts spread across the country, with significant differences from one to another, but they all faced tragic consequences and violent repression.
The most famous one was “Inconfidência Mineira”, organized mainly by wealthy white men, and is widely celebrated around the brazillian icon of "Tiradentes". But there were others, that unfortunately are constantly reduced to footnotes in our history books.
One of those was “Conjuração Baiana” or “The Tailors’ Revolt”. It’s called this way because it had a strong participation of lower-class workers, such as tailors, shoemakers, seamstresses and also slaves and those who were already been granted freedom. Influenced not only by Illuminism, but also by the Haitian Revolution, this was one of the movements organized mainly by black leaders and, as often happens in our history, it does not always get all the attention it deserves.
It was a popular revolt that started in Salvador, Bahia, triggered by the dire conditions that workers found themselves, high taxes and increasing hunger among those in more vulnerable situations, not to mention the egalitarian, republican and abolitionist ideals that drove them to rise against the Portuguese monarchy that controlled Brazilian economy.
The six-star flag of “Conjuração Baiana” represents the 06 main ideals of this rebellion:
- Abolition of slavery
- End of prejudice
- Proclamation of the Republic
- Lower taxes
- Opening of Seaports
- Wage increase
One of the mottos seen in the revolutionary pamphlets said:
“Cheer up, people of Bahia, that the happy time of our freedom is coming soon: the time in which we shall all be brothers, the time in which we shall all be equals”.
We’re using the six-star flag as a homage to this underrated moment in our History, as it’s perfectly aligned with the ideals of Squadron 51, an organization that fights against all Director Zarog stands for. We, as a team, believe that spreading this ideals is a way to try to defeat the Director Zarogs across the World.
The Squadron 51’s emblem is one of the aspects in our project where we mix the 1950s Hollywoodian references with those details of our colonial history to create an unique lore!