EVENT INFORMATION

27
April
1848

French Republic abolishes slavery in its colonies

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📅 27 April 1848 📍 France

The decree abolished slavery in French colonies and possessions and declared that French citizens could not own or traffic enslaved people. Abolition was a victory shaped by enslaved people’s resistance and abolitionist organizing. It did not compensate the formerly enslaved; a year later the state instead legislated indemnities for former slaveholders. Read alongside the 1849 law, emancipation and reparation reveal sharply unequal state priorities.

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People in this event

Victor Schœlcher

enslaved and free people of color

abolitionists

Organizations in this Event

Provisional Government of the French Republic

Commission for Abolition