Last year, France celebrated the 160th anniversary of the abolition of slavery. During the commemorative event in Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced that all primary school students would have the opportunity to learn about this dark period of France’s history.
Although the slave trade benefited France greatly, slavery and the French Revolution became intertwined, with many prominent French citizens critical of the practice of keeping unpaid servants. At one point, 500, 000 persons were enslaved in Saint Domingue (which would later be known as Haiti). Sugar, coffee and cotton plantations were staffed by mixed race workers and lived under a stiff set of rules known as the “Code Noir. ”
With the Revolution underway, mixed - race free men of Saint Domingue began to speak out against the lack of rights that free people held and took the matter to the National Assembly of France. Assembly members were divided, though, because some were members of abolitionist organization.
While many ignored the call for abolishment, more than 28, 000 people from the slave races and mixed - race persons continued to fight for equal rights. France abolishing slavery in 1794 was the perfect precursor to the eventual end of the Haitian Revolution, gaining formerly enslaved Black people a right to freedom and independence that was robbed from them before.
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