France moves to repeal Code Noir, the slavery law it never abolished (opens in new tab)

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)2026-05-28T05:10:45Z PARIS (AP) — For nearly two centuries after France abolished slavery, the...