This year, our country celebrated the 170th anniversary of the abolition of slavery. However, as in other countries, the liberation of slaves has not erased the scars that the trade and colonial slavery left on French society. We are all products of this history made of tragedies and rebellions, violence and encounter, exploitation and rupture.

Because this history is an essential page of our national narrative, it deserves an institution to transmit the memory and to share France’s message of Liberté, Egalité and Fraternité. The Foundation for the Memory of Slavery will be this institution.

On the 27th of April, President Emmanuel Macron announced its creation slated for as early as this year. Its form and its objectives were prepared a year ago by the Mission for the Memory of Slavery, the Slave Trade and their Abolitions, which I chair.

Located in the Hôtel de la Marine where the abolition decree was signed by Victor Schoelcher, the foundation will share how this history radically transformed France, its population, its culture, and its values; how it created between peoples from Europe, Africa and America a singular and indissoluble link; how the struggle against slavery – first by slaves themselves – fortified the French republic in promoting the inalienable principles of Liberty and Equality. It will help provide an understanding of the source of French diversity and the richness that persists today.

For this project to succeed, and to make sure that it addresses present issues, we must build a participatory institution, open to the international community, resolutely engaged toward the youth and the future, and affiliating widely with public and private partners.

This is the initiative I propose that you join today.