The National Assembly voted 254-0 — a rare show of unanimity — to adopt a bill repealing the Code Noir, or Black Code, the 1685 decree King Louis XIV signed to govern slaves across France’s colonies.
The law turned human beings into chattel, allowing them to be worked, beaten, sold, raped and murdered.
And the realization that France never formally did away with it left many aghast.
Subscribe: http://smarturl.it/AssociatedPress
Read more: https://apnews.com
This video may be available for archive licensing via https://newsroom.ap.org/home