*On this date, in 1794, France abolished slavery. As a nation, they had a lukewarm commitment to abolition. Under Napoleon, they reestablished slavery in 1802 along with the re-institution of the "Code Noir," prohibiting blacks, Mulattoes, and other nonwhites from entering French colonial territory or intermarrying with whites.
These orders, carried out by General Antoine Richepance, brutally re-instituted slavery in the French Antilles in 1802. Thousands of people of color were killed in Guadeloupe alone as they fought to retain their freedom. France, as a country, finally ended slavery in 1848.
