France moves to repeal Code Noir, the slavery law it never abolished
Associated Press
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A statue named "Chains," by French artist Driss Sans-Arcidet, honoring the memory of the abolition of slavery, is photographed in a park in Paris, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, as France's National Assembly examines a bill to formally repeal the Code Noir, or Black Code, the 17th-century royal edict that governed slavery in French colonies and treated enslaved people as property. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)French lawmaker Max Mathiasin of the French Caribbean island Guadeloupe, poses at the entrance of the National Assembly in Paris, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, before lawmakers examine a bill to formally repeal the Code Noir, or Black Code, the 17th-century royal edict that governed slavery in French colonies and treated enslaved people as property. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)A statue is photographed by French artist Didier Audrat in Paris, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, honoring the memory of the abolition of slavery, depicting Solitude, the daughter of an African slave who was raped by a sailor aboard the ship transporting her to the Caribbean, holding the proclamation of Louis Delgres, an anti-slavery resistance leader calling for resistance and struggle. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)
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A statue named "Chains," by French artist Driss Sans-Arcidet, honoring the memory of the abolition of slavery, is photographed in a park in Paris, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, as France's National Assembly examines a bill to formally repeal the Code Noir, or Black Code, the 17th-century royal edict that governed slavery in French colonies and treated enslaved people as property. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)