UNDERSTANDING
SLAVERY

KNOWING

  • From the 16th to the 19th centuries, a social and economic system based on the exploitation of hundreds of millions of human beings, maintained by violence and coercion, and legitimized by national policies – including France’s – left a deep mark on Africa, the Americas, the Indian Ocean islands, and Europe itself. That system was colonial slavery.
  • That system produced racist beliefs and theories that persist today.
  • Knowing that history and understanding the memories that run through our open and globalized societies is the Foundation's mission, in keeping with the law of 21 May 2001, which declared colonial slavery and the slave trade crimes against Humanity.
MG. Benoist Portrait présumé de Madeleine
Radeau de la Méduse

AT THE HEART OF THE PROJECT

Acknowledging France’s worldwide history

  • The Foundation puts education and citizenship at the heart of its mission, which requires pooling and organizing up-to-date knowledge about slavery and its legacies.
  • We are building these pages in cooperation with research and memory institutions in order to create a resource portal on slavery and its legacies that will be enhanced with specially designed content. It will provide access to essential knowledge. By making available French databases and resources's wealth, which are still dispersed nowaday, the portal will provide a valuable service to the general public, as well as schoolchildren, community groups and academics.