Memorial to Victor Schoelcher

Monument - Vieux-Habitants

This monument pays homage to Victor Schœlcher who, while in charge of the Under-Secretary for the Navy and the Colonies, prepared the decree of abolition of slavery which he will adopt on April 27, 1848. Born in 1804, Victor Schoelcher discovered the harsh reality of slavery during his many trips to the United States, Mexico, Cuba, the Caribbean and Africa. Revolted, he engaged in a constant fight against this injustice. The revolution of February 1848, will give him the opportunity to act. On his return from Senegal, where he had gone to study the slave trade system and gather information on the peoples of Africa, Victor Schoelcher was entrusted by Arago with the Under-Secretary for the Navy and the Colonies. Elected by universal suffrage in the three French colonies of the West Indies and Guiana, he was, however, forced into exile in London.
After eighteen years of exile and the fall of Napoleon III, he returned to Paris. He was a member of Martinique, then Senator, continuing his fight for freedom. He died in 1893 and was buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery. His ashes were transferred to the Pantheon on Friday, May 20th, 1949.