“National Memorial for the Victims of Slavery” in France

[David Lockmiller]

New York Times -- January 25, 2024

King Louis XIII authorized the slave trade in 1642, and his son, the Sun King introduced slavery’s legal code.

A modest memorial dedicated to the memory of the victims of colonial slavery sits close to the basilica of St.-Denis, on the outskirts of Paris.

In the wake of abolition, the French government ordered its administrators to assign each new citizen a family name, so the men at least could vote. The names, the directive said, could not be that of former masters, should be inspired by ancient history and the calendar, and should vary infinitely.

A new memorial will list the names of those freed in 1848, a design some say does more to glorify France for abolition than to atone for slavery itself. It will bear the names of some 224,000 people who were freed from slavery by France in 1848, made citizens and assigned a family name. Critics question the decision to honor just 224,000 people and not the millions who suffered under French slavery.

There are just four memorials like this around France. Last autumn, the government announced it would do more: build a “National Memorial for the Victims of Slavery” in Trocadéro Gardens, the tourist destination that is an Instagram favorite because of its clear view of the Eiffel Tower.