ABSTRACT
In the Antilles and in France, Antillean activists and intellectuals expressed scepticism regarding the government's efforts to commemorate the abolition of slavery. Although French political leaders argued that there was a "duty to remember" the abolition of slavery, for many Antilleans, the sesquicentennial evoked a much longer memory. They looked back not just on the history of slavery and colonialism, but also on the history of broken French promises of equality and integration. In 1998, the French government organized the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the colonies. Jacques Chirac, the president of France, held one of the first commemorative events at the Elysee Palace in Paris on April 23. Speaking to a large group of French dignitaries, Chirac gave credit for the end of slavery to the French Republic. In Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, and Reunion, local governments organized dozens of events to commemorate the end of slavery.
